Ad description
A TV ad for Age UK Hearing Aids seen in March 2016. Animated words were shown entering a man’s ear, and a web address, telephone number and the Age UK logo were shown along the bottom of the screen. A voice-over stated: “Do you have to turn the TV up louder to hear everything? Call Age UK Hearing Aids and we’ll help you to hear more clearly. We’ll arrange a free comprehensive hearing assessment from the comfort of your own home. For one of our discreet hearing aids. With a great aftercare service and a low price guarantee. Call 0800 270 7400 now and know that a name you can trust will help you to hear the things you love. That’s 0800 270 7400”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad gave the misleading impression that the hearing aids were supplied by the charity Age UK, rather than by one of its commercial partners.
Response
Age UK Trading CIC t/a Age UK said that Age UK Hearing Aids was a partnership between Age UK Trading CIC and UK Hearing Care Management Services Ltd (UK Hearing Care). They stated that every customer who enquired about the service received a consumer guide, which explained in full the relationship between UK Hearing Care and Age UK. All materials provided to customers featured the logos of both organisations and stated that UK Hearing Care was working in association with Age UK. Therefore, they were satisfied that consumers would be aware that the hearing aid would be provided by UK Hearing Care before they decided to book a hearing assessment. Furthermore, the audiologist would make them aware of this at the appointment stage. As a result, Age UK believed that consumers would have acquired a good understanding of the relationship between the two organisations by the time they reached the point of deciding to purchase an Age UK Hearing Aid.
They stated that the ad had been aired since 2014 and had only been subject to one complaint. However, in response to the complaint, they said that they would withdraw the ad. They also said that they had taken action to revise the ad in order to underline the nature of the relationship between Age UK and UK Hearing Care.
Clearcast said that the ad had been cleared in 2013 and had run continually since then without complaint. When clearing the ad, they had received substantiation stating that Age UK was working in partnership with UK Hearing Care. They said that Age UK Hearing Aids was clearly a different entity from Age UK, though it fell under the umbrella of the charity. They stated that the ad made repeated reference to “Age UK Hearing Aids”, and the URL that appeared on screen was “ageukhearingaids.co.uk” rather than “ageuk.org.uk”. They believed that this clearly indicated that the service was not being offered by the charity Age UK itself, but by one of its partner organisations. For those reasons, they did not think that the ad was materially misleading. Furthermore, they echoed Age UK’s comments that once contact was made to enquire about the service, the provider would be made clear to consumers.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA understood that Age UK Hearing Aids was a partnership between Age UK and UK Hearing Care. We also noted that the complainant felt that the ad implied that the hearing aids were provided directly by Age UK.
We noted that the ad invited viewers to contact “Age UK Hearing Aids”. The Age UK logo was shown on screen throughout the ad and no reference was made to UK Hearing Care. While the URL shown on screen ended in “.co.uk” and differed from the address of the Age UK website, we noted that Age UK was still featured prominently in the name. For those reasons, we acknowledged that the ad did not make explicitly clear that Age UK Hearing Aids was a partnership between Age UK and UK Hearing Care.
Given the presentation of the advertiser’s identity described above, we considered that consumers would understand that Age UK Hearing Aids was an initiative undertaken by the charity Age UK, which was accurate. We did not consider that consumers would expect the charity to directly produce or source the hearing aids themselves. Rather, we considered that consumers would understand that a third party would be involved in the provision of the actual products and testing, which would have to be carried out by specialists. While we noted that the hearing tests were carried out by UK Hearing Care, and that customers would deal directly with that company if they chose to purchase hearing aids, we did not consider that the impression given by the ad, that the service was closely associated with Age UK was misleading. On that basis, we concluded the ad was not likely to mislead viewers and did not breach the Code.
The ad was investigated under BCAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
3.2
3.2
Advertisements must not mislead consumers 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 consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
and
3.6
3.6
Advertisements must not mislead by omitting the identity of the advertiser.
Advertisers should note the law requires advertisers to identify themselves in some advertisements. Advertisers should take legal advice.
(Misleading advertising), but was not found in breach.
Action
No further action required.
