ASA Adjudication on Reed Business Information Ltd

Ad

An ad in Computer Weekly magazine promoted the ComputerWeekly.com IT jobs board. The headline text stated "149,327 reasons to recruit using ComputerWeekly.com*". The asterisk was linked to a footnote that stated "*Monthly unique users June 07". The body copy stated "Like any IT jobs board we can offer you thousands of active IT jobseekers, however unlike anyone else we can also offer you 149,327 passive jobseekers too. Typically hard to reach, passive jobseekers are an elusive breed; yet with our award-winning editorial content they can be your very own captive audience."

Issue

The complainant, Incisive Media, challenged whether the claim "unlike anyone else, ComputerWeekly.com can also offer you 149,327 passive jobseekers too" was misleading because they believed that figure was the circulation of Computer Weekly and not the amount of passive jobseekers that they could access.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Reed Business Information Ltd (Reed Business Information) said the point they wished to make in the ad was that ComputerWeekly.com was a community rather than a jobs-only website, and could therefore offer extra benefits to recruitment advertisers in terms of audience delivered. They said the numbers quoted in the ad were for monthly unique users, and sent information from their third party online analytics provider that showed the figure quoted in the ad was correct.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA considered the evidence sent by Reed Business Information. We noted the evidence showed the quoted monthly figure for unique users of ComputerWeekly.com was 149,327. We concluded they had substantiated their claim "unlike anyone else, ComputerWeekly.com can also offer you 149,327 passive jobseekers too" and the ad was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code Clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)