ASA Adjudication on Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications International AB

Ad

A TV ad for Sony Ericsson's Satio mobile phone showed a woman using the phone to take a picture of a space hopper and share it using third-party software. It then showed her bouncing through a city on a space hopper before being joined by a male friend and an increasingly large group of people, also on space hoppers. The woman was shown taking photographs using the phone and using a chat application. On-screen text stated "PlayNow TM Arena terms, conditions and download charges may apply." At the end of the ad the voice-over said "Packed with applications and more available to download" while the phone's screen was shown displaying icons of several popular applications, including Facebook.

Issue

One viewer, who purchased the phone, challenged whether the ad was misleading because the phone did not come with the Facebook application pre-installed and he understood that it was not compatible with the Facebook application.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Sony Ericsson said that access to the Facebook website was integrated via links on the phone and that they had made no claims regarding the level of functionality these links would allow. They explained that a software problem had meant the Facebook application had initially not been available for the phone. They advised that this problem had been resolved and that the Facebook application could now be downloaded from their application website and used on the Satio.

Clearcast said they had received assurance from Sony Ericsson that the Facebook application was pre-loaded onto the handset and would not have cleared the ad if they had been aware of the software problem.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that links installed on the phone allowed users to access the Facebook website via the phones internet browser. However, we understood that this was not the same as the phone being able to run the Facebook software application, which would offer better functionality and a faster user experience.

We considered that the ad's simultaneous use of the Facebook logo and voice-over saying "Packed with applications and more available to download" was likely to be understood by viewers to mean that the phone either came with the Facebook application or it could be downloaded. We noted that a software problem had initially prevented the application being available but this had now been rectified. However, because the ad implied the application was either preloaded on the phone or would be available to download, and because this was not the case at the time the ad was broadcast, we concluded the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1 and 5.1.3 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications)

Action

We told Sony Ericsson to ensure that product functionality depicted in ads was accurate at the time the ad was broadcast.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)