Ad description

A TV ad, for The Money Shop, featured the TV presenter David Dickinson, who stated, "They lend on genuine gold, jewellery, silver, diamonds and selected top brand watches … It's easy!  Pledging the valuables you own to secure a handy cash loan …"  On-screen text stated "Borrow £100 at only £5.99 per month (usually £7.99) £100 borrowed for 211 days.  Annual interest rate of 71.88% (fixed).  Total amount repayable by one repayment is £141.52.  82.4% APR Representative …".  As the presenter continued, "So don't sell the treasures you own, use them to secure a pawn broking loan at only five pound ninety nine per month for every hundred quid borrowed …", the text was shown in white against a yellow background.

Issue

A viewer, who believed the on-screen text was not legible, challenged whether the ad was misleading.

Response

The Money Shop considered the ad was not misleading and that the text was legible. They believed BCAP Code rule 3.11 (Qualification) was not relevant, because the on-screen text was not included to qualify, or to make clear any restriction or limitation, to the product advertised or its availability or its terms.  They said the text was included purely to detail the representative repayment example, which provided an illustration of how much the customer would be required to repay if they took a pawn broking loan of £100 and to confirm the rates that would apply to that loan. They said there was nothing in the on-screen text that contradicted the rest of the ad and it did not seek to deal with any substantive qualification.  They believed rule 3.11 was not intended to apply to a representative repayment example in that context.  

They believed the ad should be considered as a whole, taking into account the manner in which the on-screen text was presented throughout and the overall length of time for which it was shown.  The Money Shop said viewers were given a significant length of time in which to digest the information provided in the on-screen text and in any case they considered the moving background, which appeared for only part of the ad, was not sufficiently material to distract viewers from reading the text.  They said the ad was 40 seconds long, with the text being displayed for 25 seconds. It was displayed against a reasonably dark background for 15 seconds and was clearly legible at all times.  They also believed the text to be prominent, bearing in mind its size and position on the screen.  In addition, guidance from Clearcast about the height and position of the text had been followed and Clearcast had cleared the pre-air version of the ad.  The Money Shop believed the ad did not breach the Code.  They said it did not include misleading information, did not omit material information, it was not ambiguous and information was presented in a clear, intelligible and timely manner.           

Clearcast said a previous version of the ad had failed their checks, because the text was not on screen for a sufficient length of time.  They said that issue was rectified in the current version of the ad, however, with the result being that the on-screen text now also appeared on the yellow screen at the end of the ad, which included the text being shown with a 'drop shadow' to frame the text in black and make it more legible. The current version of the ad was approved on the basis that the text was clearly legible.  They noted the text that referred to the representative repayment example was shown for 14 seconds before the yellow end frame, which they believed helped ensure it would be clear and understood by the viewer.  Clearcast said after the previous version was rejected, the agency had ensured that the text appeared for five seconds longer than was required.  They believed the ad was acceptable.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted the complainant was concerned that the APR was shown in white on a yellow background at the end of the ad and was therefore difficult to read.  We considered rule  3.11 3.11 Qualifications must be presented clearly.
BCAP has published Guidance on Superimposed Text to help television broadcasters ensure compliance with rule  3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  . The guidance is available at:
http://www.cap.org.uk/~/media/Files/CAP/Help%20notes%20new/BCAP_Advertising_Guidance_Notes_1.ashx
 to be relevant, because it required that qualifying information must be presented clearly, with the aim being to achieve a standard of legibility that would enable an interested viewer, who made some positive effort, to read all text. We considered the text, which contained material information, was sufficiently legible to achieve that aim during the scene in question.  

In addition, we noted the text that referred to the repayment example appeared during the scenes preceding that with the yellow background for longer than was required by BCAP guidance.  We noted it appeared on a range of backgrounds during that time and that the guidance stated that where the background to the text may be distracting, for example when it was moving or cut from one view to another, it would normally be necessary to place the text on an opaque single-coloured block. However, we considered the text, which appeared on a background which could be distracting but was not on such a block, was sufficiently legible to achieve the aim of enabling an interested viewer, who made some positive effort, to read all text.  We considered the on-screen text was presented sufficiently clearly to avoid misleading and therefore concluded that the ad did not breach the Code.    

We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules  3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  and  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.
 (Misleading advertising) and  3.11 3.11 Qualifications must be presented clearly.
BCAP has published Guidance on Superimposed Text to help television broadcasters ensure compliance with rule  3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  . The guidance is available at:
http://www.cap.org.uk/~/media/Files/CAP/Help%20notes%20new/BCAP_Advertising_Guidance_Notes_1.ashx
 (Qualification) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

BCAP Code

3.1     3.11     3.2    


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