Ad description
A product listing for a TV, seen on www.lg.com in November 2016, stated "LG 43UH668V Smart 4k Ultra HD HDR 43" LED TV". The “Display” section of the product description stated “Resolution 3840 x 2160”.
Issue
The complainant, who believed that the colour resolution of the product did not meet the standard of a 4K Ultra HD TV because it included white subpixels, challenged whether the claim "4k Ultra HD" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
LG Electronics UK Ltd (LG) said that the product had a 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution, composed of red, green, blue and white subpixels (RGBW). They said that this displayed the same quality colour resolution as a 3840 x 2160 RGB screen, which did not include white subpixels. They said the International Committee for Display Metrology (ICDM) included 3840 x 2160 RGBW configurations within their definition of 4K Ultra HD, and a large number of international industry bodies used this standard to certify products as 4K Ultra HD. LG provided documents from four independent testing bodies which indicated either that they accepted the ICDM definition or that they had certified the product as a 4K Ultra HD TV.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA understood that there was no one universally-accepted standard for a TV to be labelled 4K Ultra HD. However, we considered that consumers would expect a 4K UHD product to have met a widely-accepted standard to ensure it displayed a high level of colour and picture quality. We considered that the documents provided by LG demonstrated that the ICDM standard was accepted by a range of international testing bodies. They also demonstrated that the product in question had been certified as 4K UHD by those bodies. We concluded that the claim had been substantiated and was not misleading.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action required.
