Ad description

A TV ad for Broncho Stop cough syrup, seen on 5 January 2017, had a voice-over which stated, "Ever wondered why you have so many cough products? One in three people don't even know what type of cough they have. Broncho Stop. Our first traditional herbal treatment to relieve any cough. It contains a unique combination of ingredients that's not found in other cough products, for the relief of dry, tickly coughs, and chesty, mucous or catarrh coughs. Broncho Stop. To relieve any cough. And for relief on the go, try Broncho Stop pastilles. Like popular non-medicated lozenges, they're used to relieve a cough.” In the final shot a red graphic appeared in the top right hand-side of the screen that contained text which stated “Voted product of the year - Consumer survey of product innovation 2016”.

The claims in the voice-over were accompanied by on-screen text at the bottom of the screen that stated “Always read the leaflet. Mortar study 08/’15 - 36% of 2000 people. Traditional herbal remedy for the relief of any cough, exclusively based on long-standing use. Contains thyme herb extract”. The words “Winner Cough, Cold & Allergy Category. Survey 11,586 people by TNS” were added to the on-screen text as the voice-over said, “Broncho Stop. To relieve any cough” and remained on-screen until the end of the ad.

Issue

Six complainants, who were unable to read the on-screen text, challenged whether the ad was misleading.

Response

Clearcast responded on behalf of Omega Pharma Ltd and confirmed that the on-screen text was checked for height, duration and legibility and that it conformed with the relevant BCAP guidance. The original text was on-screen for 17.76 seconds (with a minimum requirement of 14.6 seconds) and the full text was on-screen for 10.4 seconds (minimum 6.2 seconds). All of the text was 32 lines in height, against a minimum requirement of 30 lines.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that the on-screen text included material information that viewers needed to understand the basis of the claims “One in three people don't even know what type of cough they have” and “Voted product of the year - Consumer survey of product innovation 2016”. We considered that the number of people who participated in the relevant surveys would inform viewers as to the weight to give to the claims and therefore considered that the on-screen text contained material information that must be presented clearly.

The on-screen text also stated “Always read the leaflet … Traditional herbal remedy for the relief of any cough, exclusively based on long-standing use. Contains thyme herb extract”, which we understood was information that MHRA guidance required to be included in ads for traditional herbal medicines. We considered that information therefore was also material information and must be presented clearly.

BCAP published specific guidance, in addition to the Code on the criteria that on-screen text should meet, with regard to size and style of presentation. We noted that it was a prerequisite for clearance by Clearcast that the text height met the minimum requirements of the guidance and, with respect to size, we did not consider the text to be problematic.

However, we noted that the width of the text was very compressed, such that the words appeared tall but narrow. We also noted that it had been superimposed directly onto moving images and that, while for periods it was set against solid colour, there were also times when the white text was shown over white bottle caps and a greyish image of a person’s lungs, which made the text particularly difficult to read.

The text itself began with “Always read the leaflet”, which we considered had the effect of separating the claim in the voice-over “One in three people don't even know what type of cough they have” from the text that qualified it: “Mortar study 08/’15 - 36% of 2000 people”. We considered viewers would not be familiar with the words “Mortar study”, that the date of that study had been abbreviated in a relatively uncommon way - “08/’15”, and that the number 2,000 had been presented without the comma, which made it more difficult to quickly recognise and understand what each part of the statement meant.

When the words “Winner Cough, Cold & Allergy Category. Survey 11,586 people by TNS” were added to the on-screen text, the formatting changed – it went from two lines of text to three and the new information was split across two lines. The effect was that it appeared to the viewer that it was a completely new set of text that must be read from start to finish, rather than that new information had been added to what was there before. We accepted that some text that appeared in the body of the ad at that point did not need to be taken into consideration when calculating duration of hold, such as the brand name and the text on the product packaging that we considered was incidental to the message of the ad. However, we considered that all of the super-imposed text should have been taken into consideration (not just the text that had been added), as should the prominent on-screen graphic that stated “To relieve any cough”, which appeared on two separate occasions while the full text was on-screen.

The full text continued to appear compressed and parts of it were again shown over moving images and white backgrounds, such as walls and product packaging. Finally, we noted that the additional text appeared on-screen around nine seconds before the claim it was intended to qualify (the claim that the product had been “Voted product of the year” in 2016), which made it difficult to appreciate the connection between the qualification and the claim it qualified.

For those reasons, we considered that the on-screen text was not clearly legible and comprehensible and that consumers were therefore likely to miss the material information contained within it. Because the qualifications were not clearly presented, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached 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).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told Omega Pharma Ltd to ensure significant limitations and qualifications were clearly presented in their advertising.

BCAP Code

3.1     3.11     3.2    


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