ASA Adjudication on talkSPORT Ltd

Ad

Three live radio ads made claims about a pre-paid Maestro card.

a. one ad stated “Have you got your talkSPORT prepaid Maestro Card yet? It works just like a Pay As You Go mobile phone; no monthly bills, no interest charges, no overdraft fees, no nasty shocks! You simply top it up with cash at PayPoints and Post Offices or online at talksportcard.co.uk when your balance is running low. It’s the newest and safest way to carry cash…and it’s really easy to use.”

b. a second ad made similar claims and promoted its usefulness for listeners with teenagers.

c. a third ad made similar claims and explained how it could be used for online purchases.

Issue

One listener challenged whether the claim "It works just like a Pay As You Go mobile phone" was misleading, because unlike Pay As You Go mobile phone arrangements, a fee was payable each time the card was topped up.

BCAP Radio Code

Response

TalkSPORT Ltd stated that "It works just like a Pay As You Go (PAYG) mobile phone" was used as an analogy for the pre-pay card, because they felt their listeners would be familiar with the PAYG concept.  They did not believe that the ad suggested that the pre-paid cards and PAYG mobiles were identical in every aspect, particularly where cost was concerned.  They said listeners who wanted to apply for the card had to log on to the talkSPORT website, and the site's home page clearly set out the costs, which were also listed on the 'Fee Summary' page.  They said there was an initial fee of £9.95, which they likened to the cost of a mobile phone handset.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that there was a £9.95 fee to purchase and activate the pre-pay card and there were costs to top-up the card with credit; a 3% fee when paying by PayPoint, credit or debit card (with a minimum of £1) or 75p via the Post Office.  We acknowledged that the ad used the PAYG mobile phone system as an example to illustrate that the pre-pay card worked in a similar way and needed to be topped up with credit before use.  However, we noted that generally no fee was charged when topping up PAYG mobile phones.   Although we understood that those types of top-up fees were common for pre-pay cards and acknowledged that the fees were made clear in the terms and conditions on the website, we noted that the top-up charge was not stated in the ad and considered that it was a significant condition which should have been made clear in the ad.

Because of that, we considered that the ad implied that there were no extra costs involved in using the pre-pay card, which was not the case and concluded that the claim "It works just like a Pay As You Go Mobile phone" was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2 rule 3.1 (Misleadingness).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)