ASA Adjudication on E.ON Energy Ltd

Ad

A national press ad, for E.ON energy, was headed “On wrapping up the deal” and included an illustration of two women chatting at a bus stop. One said “READY FOR THE COLD WEATHER?” and the other replied “YES, WITH E.ON I’M GUARANTEED THE CHEAPEST GAS BILLS THIS WINTER”. Text stated “Helping you control your energy bills Our WinterGas deal guarantees* your gas bills will be cheaper this winter than those from any other major supplier (based on their Standard gas plans). As long as you use an average amount of gas and pay by cash, cheque or fixed monthly Direct Debit, you’ll be better off with us”. Small-print text stated “… *Guarantee applies from 1 October 2009 until 31 March 2010, providing you remain on the plan until this date. Average annual gas consumptions of 20,500kWh split across seasons. Cheapest gas bills for gas used during winter. Major energy suppliers are British Gas, npower, Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern and EDF Energy”.

Issue

British Gas challenged whether the ad was misleading, because:

1. the claim "WITH E.ON IM GUARANTEED THE CHEAPEST GAS BILLS THIS WINTER" was contradicted by qualifying text, and

2. it did not make clear all significant limitations of the WinterGas deal, because it failed to clarify that customers with a pre-payment meter were excluded.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. E.ON Energy Ltd (E.ON) explained that the ad comprised three parts: a headline, a cartoon and body copy. They said the headline set the context and acted as a wrapper for the overall piece while the cartoon, which showed two people, one of whom was an E.ON customer, discussing the benefits of the advertised offer, provided visual appeal. Finally, the body copy provided all of the detailed information the reader needed to assess whether or not the ad applied to them.

E.ON said conversation from the second character, "YES, WITH E.ON IM GUARANTEED THE CHEAPEST GAS BILLS THIS WINTER", was clearly personal to her, as an E.ON customer, and reflected her hypothetical circumstances. They pointed out that she said ... IM GUARANTEED ..." and believed it was clear, therefore, that she was not making a universal claim that the guarantee applied to everyone. They said there were no references in the ad which suggested that the claim could not apply to her, an E.ON customer, or that it would apply to everyone. They said the body copy, which was very prominent in their view, made explicit the circumstances that surrounded the guarantee. Any reader, therefore, could clearly identify whether the circumstances of the guarantee would apply to them. They believed the average reader, as defined by the Consumer Protection Regulations 2008, would understand that the qualifying text in the body copy expanded on the headline claim and explained why the character in the cartoon was guaranteed the cheapest gas bills this winter and pointed out that the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code stated that "conformity with the Code is assessed according to the marketing communications probable impact when taken as a whole and in context".

2. E.ON explained that text in the body copy of the ad prominently stated "As long as you use an average amount of gas and pay by cash, cheque or fixed monthly Direct Debit, youll be better off with us". They said the ad therefore included positive indications of the payment methods that qualified for the savings scheme, which, they believed, was preferable to stating exclusions in small-print. They said pre-payment customers, who represented only a small proportion of their overall customer base, would not believe the guarantee applied to them; they would understand from the inclusion of the applicable payment methods that they did not qualify. They said, although customers who used pre-payment meters might pay with cash, they understood that they were a discrete group of people who had their own special payment mechanism and tariff.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA considered that the claim "WITH E.ON IM GUARANTEED THE CHEAPEST GAS BILLS THIS WINTER" was clearly qualified by text in the body copy of the ad, which outlined under which circumstances E.ON customers would achieve the "cheapest gas bills". We understood that, at the time the ad appeared, average gas users on a standard gas plan who paid by cash, cheque or fixed monthly Direct Debit achieved a lower rate with E.ON than with other providers.

We noted BG's argument that it was unacceptable for advertisers to make an absolute claim in a headline, which was then contradicted by body or small print text. In this example, however, we were satisfied that the ad made sufficiently clear that the "cheapest gas bills" claim was made in the context of the experience of a consumer who used an average amount of gas, and noted the conditions on which the statement was based were clearly spelt out in the ad with equal, if not greater prominence than the text accompanying the illustration. We considered it unlikely that readers would infer from the way the information was presented that gas consumers would qualify for cheaper gas bills with E.ON over other providers in all circumstances. We concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead on those grounds.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 19.1 (Other comparisons) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)