Ad description
A TV ad for Tesco Mobile featured two men wearing towels sitting in a steam room. One of the men turned to the other and said, "Just switched to Tesco Mobile", at which the other man laughed and asked, "Tesco Mobile?!" The camera then pulled back and showed that Ronnie Corbett was in the room, fully clothed and holding a microphone, he said, "You see the thing is you can get all the latest phones and the best customer service of any network." On-screen text stated, "Available on 24 months contract only. Uswitch award 2012. T&C's at Tescomobile.com". On-screen text at the end of the ad stated, "There's nothing funny about Tesco Mobile".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "You can get all the latest phones" was misleading.
Response
Tesco Mobile Ltd emphasised the casual nature of the ad and the fact that the dialogue was natural and relaxed, rather than formal and exact. They said, in this context, the claim "On Tesco Mobile you can get all the latest phones" was a casual remark. They accepted that it was one of the marketing messages in the ad but, because it was phrased and delivered in an informal manner, they believe the word "all" would not be understood literally.
Tesco said that the claim objected to would was not intended to be, and would not be understood as, a bold statement covering literally all phones on the market. It was used in a casual sense, implying that a wide selection of the most prominent phones would be available. They believed that the average consumer would interpret the ad in that way, and would not expect to find every single handset that could be considered the "latest".
Tesco said there were hundreds of phones on the market at any one time and that at the time the ad was run there was, on average, 280 phones on the UK market. As the market expanded and more manufacturers from more countries got involved, the number of phones available was becoming unmanageable. For these reasons each mobile retailer had to choose a selection of phones for its own range, to appeal to its customer base and attract new customers. Tesco said that of these hundreds of phones, the ten most popular dominated around 65% of the market. These were the phones which were by far the most popular, and which any ordinary consumer would consider to be the "latest" phones referred to. The hundreds of phones outside that group each had only one or two per cent, or even a fraction of a percentage, of the market.
Tesco Mobile said they had decided to range a variety of phones, including the ten most popular phones and with that range they were able to satisfy the expectations of most customers. They submitted market data showing the most popular phones in the UK at the time of the ad.
Clearcast said they approved the ad upon receipt of confirmation from the agency that one could get all of the latest phones from Tesco mobile.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that the ad contained the claim, "On Tesco Mobile you can get all the latest phones", which could be read very literally. However, whilst the claim was clearly intended as one of the marketing messages of the ad, we considered that it was delivered in a casual manner and would not be taken literally by viewers. We considered that viewers would infer that the most popular phones were available on Tesco Mobile.
We noted that Tesco stocked the ten most popular phones and then a selection of other phones on the market, but did not stock every phone available in the UK. We noted the market data they supplied and that the top ten phones at any one time accounted for a high percentage of total market.
Because we considered that the claim would be understood as referring to the most popular phones, rather than every single model, and the evidence from Tesco confirmed that they stocked phones that the majority of consumers would be interested in, we concluded that the ad was not in breach of the Code.
We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 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) and 3.12 3.12 Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service. (Exaggeration) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
