Ad description
A website for Lycamobile UK Ltd, www.lycamobile.co.uk, seen on 15 May 2017, advertised a phone contract. Text stated "UK ULTRA PLAN - 15GB - UNLIMITED UK MINS & TEXTS". The text "£25 / 30 DAYS" appeared alongside, with "£25" crossed through. Larger text underneath stated "£12 when you buy a new SIM with plan online". A link stating "Find out more" also appeared alongside.
Issue
The complainant, who found that the £12 price applied for the first 30 days only and then rose to £25 per 30 days, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Lycamobile UK Ltd said the validity period of the offer was found by clicking on the "Find out more" button. They said the plan was one that the customer could choose to renew or not each month. The customer was not tied in to a contract for a set period of time.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered consumers would understand the ad to mean that the usual price of £25 per 30 days for the UK Ultra Plan was reduced to £12 per 30 days for customers who bought a new SIM with their plan online. Our understanding, however, was that the £12 price applied for the first 30 days only, after which it rose to £25 per 30 days. In the context of an ad for a 30-day rolling SIM contract, we considered that understanding that the offer price applied for the first 30 days only, and that the crossed through price applied for subsequent 30-day periods, was material information that should have been made clear in the ad. We acknowledged that the ad contained a link to further information, but noted that it did not link directly to an explanation of the validity period of the offer or an explanation that the crossed through price applied for subsequent 30-day periods. Because the ad did not make it clear that the offer price applied for the first 30 days only, and did not explain that the crossed through price applied for subsequent 30-day periods, we concluded that it was likely to mislead.
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),
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification) 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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Lycamobile UK Ltd to ensure their ads stated any material information that applied to claims in future.
