Ad description
A website, www.gtsgameservers.co.uk, for a company that offered protection for game servers, featured text that stated "GTSGaming Anti-DDoS Protection 'It's not a question of knowing if you need anti-DDoS protection but rather when you will first be the victim of an attack. GTSGaming is committed to protecting your Game Servers 24/7 against any type of DDoS attack, regardless of duration or size'."
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "GTSGaming is committed to protecting your Game Servers 24/7 against any type of DDoS attack, regardless of duration or size" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
GTSGameServers t/a gtsgameservers.co.uk explained that, at the time the complainant was using the advertised service, the game server they used did not support anti-DDoS protection. They explained that they had subsequently changed their game server provider to one that offered DDoS protection.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered consumers would understand the claim "GTSGaming is committed to protecting your Game Servers 24/7 against any type of DDoS attack, regardless of duration or size" to mean that the advertised service would protect a user's game server against any type of DDoS attack. We were therefore concerned that, at the time the ad appeared, the advertised service used game servers that did not support anti-DDoS protection and were therefore vulnerable to DDoS attacks. On that basis, we considered the claim was misleading and had not been substantiated. We therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told GTSGameServers to ensure claims were capable of robust substantiation in future.
