Ad description
A TV ad, for car insurance, featured on-screen text at the end of the ad which stated the advertiser's website address and phone number. Underneath, a white box featured text in red which stated "Disclaimer" alongside smaller, blurred text in black which stated "Minimum Age 25 years+. EU UK licence no more than 6 points. Proof of ID and UK bank account required. Must be employed min. Income 1500 pounds per month. Excess mileage charges and conditions apply".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading, because the small print in the "Disclaimer" box was too small to read.
Response
Raedex Consortium Ltd t/a Wheels4sure.com said they spent some time liaising with Clearcast to ensure the ad met the required specifications. They said the "Disclaimer" information was presented three times during the ad: in the voice-over; in a slowly rolling scroll during the ad; and in the box labelled "Disclaimer" at the end of the ad. They considered that demonstrated they communicated in a fair and transparent manner in their marketing communications.
Clearcast also highlighted that the information presented in the "Disclaimer" box at the end of the ad was clearly presented to viewers in the main body of the ad both on-screen and in the voice-over. They said they had checked the on-screen element and they considered it complied with rules on legal text duration, height and legibility. Clearcast said that where legal text was duplicated, they always ignored the second instance in which the information was presented if the first instance passed all the required checks, because all the key information relevant to viewers had already been presented to them.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that although the box at the end of the ad was clearly labelled "Disclaimer", the additional text in black was not legible to viewers. We acknowledged that the information contained in the box was presented to viewers earlier in the ad both in on-screen text and a voice-over. We noted, however, that because the information in the box at the end of the ad was not legible, they would not be aware that it had previously been presented to them. Furthermore, we considered that, because the heading "Disclaimer" was legible, consumers would understand that the illegible text contained important information which would be relevant to their decision to find out more about the advertised product. We considered the illegibility of the text in the "Disclaimer" box therefore created ambiguity about the conditions associated with the advertised product, and that that ambiguity was likely to have an affect on consumers' decisions in relation to the advertised product. For that reason, we concluded the ad was likely to mislead.
The ad breached BCAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
(Misleading advertising) and
3.11
3.11
Qualifications must be presented clearly.
BCAP has published Guidance on Superimposed Text to help television broadcasters ensure compliance with rule
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
. The guidance is available at:
http://www.cap.org.uk/~/media/Files/CAP/Help%20notes%20new/BCAP_Advertising_Guidance_Notes_1.ashx
(Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Wheels4sure.com to ensure that information was legible which consumers were likely to expect to be relevant to their decisions in relation to the advertised product in their future ads.
