Background
This case forms part of an ASA-initiated project group of five cases investigating ads from online personalities and companies promoting courses that purport to help people make money and expand their business.
Ad description
A paid-for Facebook post, dated 5 August 2025 by Tony Robbins Business Mastery Course, featured a video with Tony Robbins that included the claims, “I’m going to show you literally how to grow your business overnight 30 to 130 percent, 180 percent with two or three changes. Listen I come from nothing. I have no business background. I have 105 companies doing over seven billion dollars in business…” and “I’m going to take you through a 7 Step System for running any business, for growing any business, I don’t care what it is. We call these the 7 forces of business mastery.” The video also featured testimonies from students of the Business Mastery Course stating how well their businesses had done after taking the course.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad was misleading because it implied that the stated earnings were typical.
Response
Robbins Research International Inc t/a Tony Robbins said as the leader of the Business Mastery course, Mr Robbins’ references to his own businesses and revenues were not meant to be viewed as what to expect or outcomes to achieve. They believed consumers were unlikely to view the ad as reflecting a typical result or guarantee from taking the course. Instead, the ad was meant to introduce the consumer to Mr Robbins and why he was qualified to teach such a course.
The ad showed multiple individual testimonials, which was a well-known and accepted industry-wide practice for that educational content in business education and personal improvement. The testimonials showed significant variations in results, which communicated to consumers that outcomes were individual and depended on various factors, rather than being typical or guaranteed. They were not exaggerations of the course’s capability, but rather documentation of how specific individuals had applied the principles taught and did not promise similar results for all participants.
They said the majority of the ad focused not on the outcomes, but instead on the practices on how to run a successful business. The substantial educational content throughout the ad reinforced that the course was a learning and development programme with its focus on business principles, decision-making and strategic thinking positions.
They maintained that their ad complied with CAP Code requirements, but said they were prepared to further clarify future advertising, such as by using language that explicitly emphasised the individual nature of testimonials that reflected diverse results. They were also implementing additional review procedures and were prepared to conduct consumer research to validate their understanding of how UK consumers interpreted their advertising messages, particularly regarding the distinction between individual testimonials and typical result claims.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
The ad featured the claim that the course enabled the audience to “grow their business overnight 30 to 130 percent, 180 percent with 2 or 3 changes” and the claims, “I’m going to take you through a 7 Step System for running any business, for growing any business, I don’t care what it is. We call these the 7 forces of business mastery” and “Listen I come from nothing. I have no business background. I have 105 companies doing over seven billion dollars in business…”.
We acknowledged the advertiser’s comment that Mr Robbins’ references to his own businesses and revenues were not meant as a typical result or guarantee from taking the course. We considered, however, that the audience was likely to interpret the claims to mean they could learn how to achieve the same profits as described in the ad by following the 7 Step System, regardless of their circumstances or experience level. However, we understood that was unlikely to be the case and had not received information from the advertiser to demonstrate otherwise.
We further acknowledged the advertiser’s argument that the testimonials featured in the ad communicated to the audience that outcomes were individual and depended on various factors, rather than being typical or guaranteed. While those testimonials indicated differing results, each related to individuals who had succeeded in their business, which was attributed to having taken the course and we also had not received information to demonstrate such results were typical of those taking the course. We also noted that the ad included the claim “I’m going to take you through a 7 Step System for running any business, for growing any business, I don’t care what it is”, which further implied that anyone who took the course, regardless of their business, would achieve the same profits as described in the ad.
We welcomed the advertiser’s assurance that they were willing to make changes to their advertising. However, because at the time the ad was seen the ad implied the results were typical, and we understood that was not likely to be the case, we concluded that it was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading Advertising) and 3.11 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form investigated. We told Robbins Research International Inc t/a Tony Robbins to ensure that future ads did not misleadingly imply claimed earnings results were typical.
