Ad description
The Philips website www.philips.co.uk, stated "Welcome to Philips TV where Picture Quality and Smart TV come together in the best possible way ... Record, program & control ... Philips Smart TV lets you plan your TV viewing to suit you. Now you can easily schedule a recording of a show you don't want to miss or pause to take a break while watching any TV broadcast then continue to watch it whenever you want".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claims on the website were misleading, because the record feature was not available in the UK.
Response
Philips Electronics UK Ltd (Philips) said the web page subject to the complaint promoted the 2012 range of Philips TVs and was visible for as long as the 2012 range was in production but had since been replaced by the 2013 range of Philips TVs. Before the new 2013 website was loaded and following receipt of the complaint, they included text underneath the "Record, program & control" claim which stated "The record feature is available on the 6000 / 7000 / 8000 and 9000 series only". A table on the website showing features for each series of TV was also corrected after they became aware that it incorrectly stated that the 4000 and 5000 series also had the record feature. All Philips Smart TVs in the 2013 range, including those available for sale in the UK, had the record feature activated as standard. Of the 2012 range 40% of the available models were able to use the record feature on UK settings.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA had received two previous complaints about the "record" feature claim on the Philips website in relation to their Smart TVs. The first related to a specific Smart TV and was investigated formally. We concluded the claim breached the Code on the basis that the record feature was not available on TVs configured to the UK country setting, including the advertised TV. We told Philips not to claim that the product's "record" feature was generally available as a feature when it could not be used with UK settings. A second complaint related to a leaflet for a Smart TV in the 7000 series. Philips said they had, in error, not updated the leaflet to comply with the previous adjudication. They agreed to delete the reference to "record" and the case was closed informally on that basis. In light of these previous issues we considered the claim again in the context of the current ad, which referred to Philips Smart TV in general, rather than to a specific model or models.
The ad stated "Welcome to Philips TV" and "Why Philips TVs" and under the heading "Smart TV" stated "Record, program & control". The claim "Record, program & control" appeared again at the bottom of the page and further text stated "... Philips Smart TV lets you plan your TV viewing to suit you. Now you can easily schedule a recording of a show you don't want to miss or pause to take a break while watching any TV broadcast then continue to watch it whenever you want". We considered readers would understand from this that the record feature was available on all Philips' Smart TVs. However, we understood this was not the case and that, at the time the complainant visited the website only 40% of Smart TVs were able to use the record feature on UK settings. We considered the reference to "record" exaggerated the capability of the Smart TVs, as they were advertised as a range of products in general.
We acknowledged that, following the complaint, Philips included text under the "Record, program & control" claim stating which series the record feature was available and considered this qualification would have been sufficient. However, because at the time the complainant viewed the website, the record feature was not available for 60% of TVs, and text did not clarify that the record feature was limited to certain series, we considered that a significant limitation likely to affect a consumer's decision about whether to purchase the product or not had been omitted. We concluded that the reference to the "record" feature was misleading.
The claim 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
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration).
Action
The claim must not appear again in its current form. We told Philips not to claim or imply that the "record" feature was generally available on all their Smart TVs if that was not the case.
