Ad description
A TV ad for LOVEFiLM Instant, viewed on 10 October 2012, included on-screen text that stated "UNLIMITED TV SERIES AND MOVIES". The voice-over said, "Simply a great way to watch unlimited TV series and movies ... sign up, start your free trial and then, it's just a fiver a month." Large on-screen text stated "£4.99" and smaller on-screen text, visible throughout the ad, stated "T&Cs apply 18+. See website for details ...".
Issue
A viewer challenged whether the claims about "unlimited TV series and movies" were misleading, because he believed the TV series and movies available with the LOVEFiLM Instant package were a limited subset of the advertiser's entire catalogue, and that some titles were only available at an additional cost.
Response
LOVEFiLM UK Ltd said they used the term "unlimited" to mean that there was no limit to the number of films or TV episodes that a person could watch. Their "Instant" package entitled subscribers to watch any of the films or TV episodes as many times as they wished with no weekly or monthly limit based on the number of titles watched or the time spent watching. They said the term "unlimited" was commonly used by subscription services, such as broadband services, to indicate that there was no cap or usage limit. They felt that their use of the term was consistent with its use generally in advertising.
They said they had a huge number and range of titles available on LOVEFiLM Instant, which was increasing all the time and could be accessed on a number of different devices, but that they did not believe that the claim "unlimited" was commonly understood to refer to the number of individual films or TV shows available. They explained that the way their content providers licensed rights for movies and TV series meant that LOVEFiLM had to maintain separate catalogues for their internet video-on-demand (VOD) and DVD rental services respectively. Pay-per-view titles that could be streamed online were also treated separately from their Lovefilm Instant package, but those titles had been temporarily removed from their service in July 2012 and were anticipated to return at some point in 2013.
They pointed out that the ad made no reference to DVD rental or postal delivery and featured only movies and TV series available on LOVEFiLM Instant. They also pointed out that the ad referred to "HD" (a VOD term) as opposed to "Blu Ray" (the physical disc equivalent) and displayed internet-connected devices on which LOVEFiLM Instant could be watched. They said it was an ad for LOVEFiLM Instant only and that they had been careful not to imply that DVD titles were available as part of LOVEFiLM Instant.
Clearcast said they cleared the claim "Unlimited TV series and movies" having received written confirmation that LOVEFiLM members had no limit on how many films they could watch. They also received an assurance that all of the movies and TV series featured in the ad were available on LOVEFiLM Instant. They said they understood the term "unlimited", in the context of the ad, to mean that LOVEFiLM customers could gain access to those movies and TV series which were available on the LOVEFiLM Instant service, and that those movies and programme episodes could be viewed repeatedly by the customer, as many times as they liked. They believed that differed from some other online movie rental services, where the customer paid to rent a movie that they could watch only once.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA understood that many titles available on the LOVEFiLM DVD rental service were not available to stream on LOVEFiLM Instant, which was made clear on the website viewers had to visit to subscribe. We noted that the DVD rental service provided greater choice at a greater cost and via a different medium, and that consumers could subscribe to one or both of the services. We considered that the ad focused on LOVEFiLM Instant, featured content available on LOVEFiLM Instant and made clear that it was an internet-dependent service. We therefore considered that viewers would interpret the visual and audio claims "UNLIMITED TV SERIES AND MOVIES" and "simply a great way to watch unlimited TV series and movies" to mean that LOVEFiLM Instant would provide unrestricted access to all VOD titles available on that service, but not to all titles available on any service offered by LOVEFiLM.
We understood that pay-per-view titles had not been available on LOVEFiLM since July 2012, but that references to them had not been completely removed from the website. It was anticipated that those titles would return at some point in 2013. However, we noted that there was no VOD content for which consumers would have to pay extra at the time the ad was viewed. Because LOVEFiLM Instant subscribers could watch all VOD content without restriction, for the price shown in the ad, we concluded that the claims to offer "unlimited TV series and movies" were unlikely to mislead.
We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.2
3.2
Advertisements must not mislead consumers 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 consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
(Misleading advertising) and
3.9
3.9
Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is 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), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
