Ad description
A press ad for TalkTalk was headed "Britain's best phone and broadband deal* Half Price† Better value than Sky, BT and Virgin". Further text stated "£3.25 a month. Phone and broadband for 12 months. UNLIMITED Download allowance~ FREE 1500 Home phone to mobile minutes+ FREE £30 Welcome Credit^".
Small print at the bottom of the ad stated "Britain's best deal is based on TalkTalk Essentials compared to BT Broadband and Evening & Weekend Calls, Sky Broadband Unlimited + Freetime (12 months free security opt-out, £3 a month thereafter. Anytime calls free for 6 months the free E/W calls thereafter), and Virgin 30Mb Broadband+LPhone".
Issue
Virgin Media Ltd challenged whether the claim "Britain's best phone and broadband deal ... Better value than Sky, BT and Virgin" was misleading.
Response
TalkTalk Telecom Ltd t/a TalkTalk (TalkTalk) said the ad was aimed at consumers seeking a low cost telecoms package and that in such a context "better value" referred to price, and believed this was in line with previous ASA adjudications. They said they had substantiated the claim "Better value than Sky, BT and Virgin" by ensuring that they offered the cheapest comparable product against those competitors. They believed that "best [..] deal" would also be understood by consumers as referring to price and that the phrasing, positioning and prominence of the headline claim supported this interpretation. They also said that the large lettering of "Half Price" made clear that price was the focus of the ad.
Assessment
Not upheld
Virgin Media Ltd believed that the claim "Britain's best phone and broadband deal ... Better value than Sky, BT and Virgin" was misleading because they felt that, in combination with the rest of the ad, it implied TalkTalk's combination of price and product specifications was the best for phone and broadband, rather than being a claim purely relating to price. They believed their service offered better value as their broadband speeds were greater. The ASA considered that the ad was aimed at customers seeking a low cost telecoms package and that in this context the claims would be understood as relating to price alone. The ad did refer to features of the product such as "UNLIMITED Download allowance" and "FREE 1500 Home phone to mobile minutes". However, we considered that consumers would understand these were references to other benefits and features of the product, rather than a basis for the headline claims. Because we considered the claim would be understood by consumers to refer to price, and TalkTalk had provided substantiation for the claim, we concluded it was not misleading.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation) and
3.33
3.33
Marketing communications that include a comparison with an identifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer about either the advertised product or the competing product.
and
3.35
3.35
They must objectively compare one or more material, relevant, verifiable and representative feature of those products, which may include price.
(Comparisons with identifiable competitors) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
