Ad description
A product listing on Amazon.co.uk for a Now TV box sold by Modern Gadgets, seen in July 2017, which stated “NOW TV Box with 6 Month Entertainment Pass by NOW TV Price £29.89 … 6 Entertainment Passes included. Enjoy 11 amazing channels not on Freeview”.
Issue
The complainant, who purchased the product and found their subscription expired before six months had passed, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Modern Gadgets did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Modern Gadgets lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code. (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
Upheld
We considered consumers would understand the claim “NOW TV Box with 6 Month Entertainment Pass” to mean they would receive a six-month Entertainment Pass to NOW TV when they purchased the product and that this subscription would be valid and commence from the date of purchase.
Because the advertiser did not provide us with any evidence to demonstrate the Entertainment Passes provided with the product were valid or commenced from the date of purchase, we concluded the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading Advertising) and 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Modern Gadgets to ensure they did not mislead consumers by stating their product came with a six-month subscription to Now TV if that was not the case and to ensure they held adequate substantiation before making such claims. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.
