ASA Adjudication on British Telecommunications plc

Ad

A TV ad for a BT multi-play package showed a man flicking through TV channels and discussing them with a friend. Small, white on-screen text at the bottom of the screen stated "New Option 1 customers: £7.78 Direct Debit monthly for 3 months. £15.65 thereafter. 18 month term. Hub free with Option 1. £88.08 from BT Shop.” The voice-over said "switch to BT Total Broadband and discover a different way to watch digital TV with BT vision. You're not tied to a TV subscription and you only pay for what you want." Small, white on-screen text at the bottom of the screen stated "Handset £39.14. BT Line required. BT Vision requires minimum line speed. Freeview coverage. £29.38 connection. £194.76 V-box. Subject to availability. Conditions apply." The man was then shown watching an Iron Man trailer and the voice-over concluded "to get a more complete broadband with a free home hub worth £88 call now on 0800 XXX XXX." The Home Hub and handset were shown next to text that stated "FREE HUB worth £88."

Issue

Two viewers challenged whether the ad was misleading, because the handset and the hub were pictured together in the ad, which implied both were free, whereas the handset had to be paid for separately with BT Option 1.

BCAP TV Code

Response

British Telecommunications plc t/a BT (BT) said the full details of the offer were included in the on-screen text in the ad.  The handset price, £39.14, was prominently positioned at the beginning of the second block of on-screen text, and appeared just before the final hub visual.  They considered that that clearly showed the handset was not included as part of the free hub package.  They said they had used the same approach to indicate that the handset was not included in a number of previous ads.

Clearcast said the offer was explained using both the voice-over and on-screen text and they were satisfied that the text qualified the terms of the offer.  They pointed out that the voice-over did not state that the handset was part of the offer and they had felt that the cost of the handset should be included in the ad.  They said that although the hub and the handset were pictured together at the end of the ad, the roundel above them stated that only the hub was free.  They said BT had previously used this approach in other ads and they had not received any previous complaints.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that the voice-over did not state that the handset was free as part of the offer and that the price of the handset was shown in the on-screen text.  However, we noted that the ad contained several sentences of white on-screen text during the ad and considered the information relating to the cost of the handset was not especially clear or prominent.  We noted that the end visual featured the hub and the handset together and considered this gave a strong visual impression that the handset was an integral part of the free hub.  We considered that the impact of the end visual showing the hub and handset together was stronger than any information communicated in the on-screen text.

Because we felt the end visual gave the strong impression that the handset was included with the hub, and was free, 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).

Action

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

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)