O2 Travel Adverts Banned for Omitting 15MB Mobile Internet Data Cap

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has once again had to ban two adverts for O2’s mobile Internet data roaming tariff (O2 Travel) after it claimed to offer “a day’s data for £1.99 … whatever you get up to on the continent“, which failed to mention the small matter of a 15MB usage cap.

The ruling followed complaints against an in-flight magazine promotion and an advert on the mobile version of O2’s website, which both used wording that appeared to promote the service as being more flexible than it actually was. The outcome mirrors a similar set of complaints that were upheld against the same add-on at the end of last year (here).

ASA Ruling (REF: A13-251662)

“We understood data-use varied depending on the app or function being used but that within the 15 MB allowance, O2 customers could use a combination of the referenced functions such as sending photos or checking the weather or map apps without exceeding the daily allowance. However, we considered that without qualification to indicate that data-use within the £1.99 daily allowance was limited to 15 MB, consumers may have understood from the ad that they could use the referenced functions without restriction and without exceeding their daily allowance. Because this was not the case, we concluded that the ad was misleading.”

As usual the ASA told O2 to ensure that the 15MB data cap was included in future promotions of the service. Since then a new version of the ad had now been created which includes the data limit.