Background
Summary of Council decision:.
Two issues were investigated, of which one was Upheld and the other Not upheld.
Ad description
Two press ads for telecoms service:.
a. The ad was headlined "TV, broadband and calls from £3.50 a month for 6 months" A sub-headline stated "Whatever bundle you fancy get it half price for 6 months when you take a Virgin Phone line for £13.90 a month". Three boxes were headed "TV and calls £3.50", "Broadband and calls £7.50" and "Essential Collection £12.50" respectively.
b. The ad was headlined "Half price for 6 months". A subheading stated "TV, broadband and calls - pick the mix that's right for you Prices start from just £3.50 per month for the first 6 months, then £7 a month after that. Virgin Phone line for £13.90 a month required". Text in a bubble at the top of the ad stated "Prices from £3.50 a month".
Issue
1. British Telecommunications plc (BT) challenged whether the claim "TV, broadband and calls from £3.50 a month for 6 months" in ad (a) misleadingly implied that all three services (TV, calls and broadband) could be obtained from £3.50 per month when it was only possible to obtain TV and calls at that price.
2. British Sky Broadcasting Ltd (Sky) challenged whether the claims "TV Broadband and calls - pick the mix that's right for you" together with the claims "Prices start from just £3.50 a month" and "Prices from £3.50 a month" in ad (b) misleadingly implied that all three services (TV, calls and broadband) could be obtained from £3.50 per month when it was only possible to obtain TV and calls at that price.
Response
1. Virgin Media Ltd (Virgin) believed ad (a) did not imply that all three services were available from the lowest price shown. They said the material explicitly stated the exact prices for the different bundles being advertised. They believed the average consumer would not consider the headline claim in isolation from the body of the ad but rather in the context of the ad as a whole.
2. They said the secondary statement in ad (b) included reference to "TV, Broadband and calls" but this was followed by the wording "Pick the mix that's right for you". They believed this wording was explicit in conveying to consumers that they could choose a mixture of the advertised services and that the £3.50 price shown was the lowest price point for TV and Calls, which was just one of the "mixes" available to customers.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA considered the headline claim "TV, broadband and calls from £3.50 a month for 6 months" would be understood by the average consumer to mean that all three services (TV, calls and broadband) could be obtained from £3.50 per month. However, the body of the ad listed three available packages which ranged from 'TV and calls' from £3.50 per month up to the full bundle of 'TV, broadband and calls' for £12.50 per month. We therefore considered that the body of the ad contradicted rather than qualified the headline claim and that when considered in its entirety, the ad provided ambiguous information about what consumers could obtain as part of the £3.50 bundle. We therefore concluded that ad (a) was misleading.
On this point ad (a) breached CAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
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) and
3.17
3.17
Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product featured in the marketing communication.
(Prices).
2. Not upheld
We understood Sky believed that without qualification, the ad, specifically the claim "TV Broadband and calls" together with the price claims, implied that TV, broadband and calls would all be included with the lowest price £3.50 bundle, when in fact it only applied to 'TV and calls'. However, we considered that the claim "Half price for 6 months TV, broadband and calls" alongside the text "pick the mix that's right for you" and the price claims would be understood by the average consumer to mean that Virgin offered various fixed multi-media bundles comprising different elements, the cheapest of which was available from £3.50 per month. Because consumers could obtain a TV and calls combination bundle from £3.50 per month, we concluded that the ad (b) was not misleading.
On this point we considered ad (b) under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
nbsp;
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) and
3.17
3.17
Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product featured in the marketing communication.
(Prices) but did not find it in breach.
Action
Ad (a) should not appear again in its current form. We told Virgin to ensure that headline claims provided clear information about the price of available services.
