Ad description
A direct mailing from BT, featured text on the envelope that stated "SKY TO SWITCH OFF O2 BROADBAND BY APRIL 2014". The letter inside featured text that stated "Did you know that if you haven't signed up to a Sky broadband package by April 2014, Sky will be able to switch off your old O2 broadband service? So now is the perfect time to start thinking about changing your broadband provider".
Issue
British Sky Broadcasting Ltd (BSkyB) challenged whether the claim "SKY TO SWITCH OFF O2 BROADBAND BY APRIL 2014" misleadingly implied that BSkyB were going to automatically switch off O2 customers' broadband service without notice.
Response
British Telecommunications plc (BT) said the claim in question had been removed from their advertising. Addressing the complaint, they said the claim was presented beside text on the envelope that stated "Time to weigh up your broadband options?". They said the information on the envelope reflected publically available information on BSkyB's website. They also believed the change in provider of O2 broadband services had been public knowledge since March 2013. They also believed that O2 broadband customers had been informed by Sky and O2 that their service would be moved from O2 to Sky. In that context, they believed the average consumer would not interpret the claim to mean that BSkyB were going to automatically switch off O2 customers' broadband service without notice; rather they believed the claim would be understood to mean that there would be an alternative provider for O2 customers' broadband service.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged BT's belief that the change in service provider had been public knowledge since March 2013 and, in that context, consumers would understand the ad to mean that there would be an alternative provider for O2 customers' broadband service. We also understood that, at the time the ad appeared in January 2014, O2 and Sky had informed O2 broadband customers that their service would be moved from O2 to Sky.
The claim "SKY TO SWITCH OFF O2 BROADBAND BY APRIL 2014" was presented as a headline claim on a "NEWS" page. We considered that presentation implied the information reflected the most up to date information about the status of O2 broadband customers' service. We considered the claim "SKY TO SWITCH OFF O2 BROADBAND BY APRIL 2014" did not mirror the information that had been communicated to O2 broadband customers. Whilst we acknowledged that O2 broadband customers had been informed that their service would be moved from O2 to Sky, we considered the claim "SKY TO SWITCH OFF O2 BROADBAND BY APRIL 2014" went beyond the information provided to consumers and would imply, both to those who had read previous notices of the changes and those who had not, that Sky were going to automatically switch off O2 customers' broadband service by April 2014. Because we understood that Sky would not switch off the service of O2 broadband customers, rather it would be moved from O2 to Sky, we considered the claim "SKY TO SWITCH OFF O2 BROADBAND BY APRIL 2014" was likely to mislead. On that basis, we 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.
and
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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form.
