Ad description
A Telegram post by Stacey’s World Rocks, posted on their own account on June 16 2026, for an event called “Stop Paying Household Bills”. The post featured an image of a woman with text underneath that stated, “STACEYSWORLDROCKS. STOP PAYING HOUSEHOLD BILLS. TAKE BACK YOUR MONEY. LIVE LIFE ON YOUR TERMS”. Icons around the image were labelled “HOUSEHOLD BILLS”, “TAX”, “PCNS”, “ULEZ”, “DEBT” and “OVERPAYING” inside red circular symbols with a diagonal line across them. Along the bottom of the image, further text stated, “KEEP MORE”, “FINANCIAL FREEDOM”, “PEACE OF MIND” and “LIVE BETTER”. Text below the image stated, “IN-PERSON EVENT & ZOOM DATES. I’m speaking in Manchester City centre, this THURSDAY. There are no in-person or online group events after this week, until September. Limited availability for 121s now until July […]”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was irresponsible because the claim “STOP PAYING HOUSEHOLD BILLS” appeared to encourage consumers not to pay household bills.
Response
Stacey’s World Rocks did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Stacey’s World Rocks lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
Upheld
The ASA understood that the post promoted an event called “Stop Paying Household Bills” and referred to in-person and Zoom dates available on the topic. We considered that consumers were likely to understand the claim “STOP PAYING HOUSEHOLD BILLS” as an encouragement not to pay household bills. We noted that the claim appeared prominently in the ad, alongside the statements “TAKE BACK YOUR MONEY” and “LIVE LIFE ON YOUR TERMS”. We also noted the use of red circular symbols with diagonal lines across references to “HOUSEHOLD BILLS”, “TAX”, “PCNS”, “ULEZ”, “DEBT” and “OVERPAYING”. We considered that the overall presentation of the ad reinforced the impression that consumers were being encouraged to reject or avoid making those payments.
We considered that household bills were payments consumers were generally expected to meet and understood that non-payment could have potentially serious consequences. Those could include late fees, damage to credit ratings, the disconnection of utilities and legal action, including County Court Judgments. In that context, we considered that encouraging consumers not to pay household bills trivialised a decision that could have significant financial and practical consequences.
Because the ad appeared to encourage consumers not to pay household bills, and the implications of that were potentially serious, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code rule 1.3 (Social responsibility).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Stacey’s World Rocks to ensure their ads did not irresponsibly encourage consumers not to pay household bills. The matter was referred to CAP’s Compliance team.
