Ad description
A TV ad for Ovo Energy, seen on 24 February, promoted their mobile phone app. The ad showed different scenarios where electricity lost power in the evening and people were then shown running down the street to a shop that was closed. The voice-over stated, “There’s never a good time for your meter to run out. Penalty shoot out? Oh no. Hot date tonight? Oh no. Covered in suds? Oh no. Off to the shop to top up. Surely there’s a smarter way? Ovo lets you top up from the comfort of your home. Get the app, go online or use your phone…”
Issue
The complainant, who understood that all prepay meters remained on overnight when they ran out of credit, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Ovo Energy Ltd said that all non-smart prepay meters offered an emergency credit facility which required manual activation in the event that gas or electricity credit had been exhausted. They said their ad depicted people who ran out of both standard and emergency credit at inconvenient times, which consumers could avoid if they chose the Ovo smart PAYG service. They explained the evening scenario was incidental and the frustrations of having power cut off were valid at any time of the day.
Clearcast agreed with the advertisers comments.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that the ad depicted three people who had their power supply cut off at inconvenient times in the evening, such as during a football match, while preparing for a date and whilst having a shower, and were then shown trying to top up at a closed local shop. We considered that, in conjunction with the voice-over which stated, “Ovo lets you top up from the comfort of your home, Get the app, go online or use your phone” and “switch to smart pay as you go”, viewers were likely to understand that they could avoid losing their power supply at an inconvenient time by changing their supplier to Ovo and opting for a smart meter so they could top up at any time remotely.
We understood that standard, non-smart meters typically had an emergency credit facility which ensured that users would not be left powerless when they were unable to top-up, but that it required manual activation. We also understood that several providers’ meters, including some non-smart meters, would not cut off a user’s power supply, regardless of whether they had run out of standard or emergency credit, from approximately 6pm to 9am, or over bank holidays. Therefore, some users would not be cut off overnight even if they had run out of credit. We considered that consumers were likely to be aware of the contingency offered by their meter and provider, however, and did not consider that the fact that not all standard meters cut out overnight undermined the key message of the ad – that Ovo smart meter customers could enjoy the convenience of topping up remotely.
Therefore, because we considered that viewers were likely to understand from the ad that Ovo smart meter customers could avoid being cut off at inconvenient times by topping up remotely, and that was the case, we concluded that the ad was not misleading.
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) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
