ASA Slaps Wanadoo For 8Mbps Advert
Posted: 08th Feb, 2006 By: MarkJ
As predicted the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today wrapped Wanadoo's knuckles over a TV advert for its 8Mbps broadband ADSL service. The outcome is also likely to impact how other ISP's advertise their broadband services.
To cut a long story short, the ASA upheld the following four (out of five) complaints:
1. Competitors of Wanadoo and members of the public objected to the ads because they felt that the "up to 8 Meg" broadband was not available to the majority of people.
2. WCRS said that the TV ads did not include an indication of whether "up to 8 Meg" referred to either uploading or downloading speeds. They said that previous ASA adjudications and CAP advice had made this a requirement for broadband ads.
4. The ASA challenged whether TV ad A made it clear that the Wireless and Talk option was only free of charge for six months and that it cost £4 per month after this initial period.
5. We also challenged whether TV ad B made it clear that the Wireless and Talk option was only free of charge for six months and that it cost £4 per month after this initial period.
The only complaint not upheld (no.3) referenced how one person found the text in the TV ads not quite large enough to be clearly legible.
Typically the most important adjudication is the first, which referenced concerns with both the actual speed available and its limited (still a trial) coverage:
We noted that, at the time that the TV ads were first broadcast and the press ads were first published in national newspapers, only 113 of the local exchanges were unbundled. These covered 8.5% of the population. According to Wanadoo, 8 Meg broadband is achievable for 55% of people with live connections.
Assuming that 55% of people served by the 113 exchanges could achieve it, when the ads first appeared a maximum of 4.675% of the population could have got 8 Meg broadband from Wanadoo. We noted that the ads had included the words "up to" in reference to the 8 Meg claim and that the on-screen text in the TV ads included "subject to availability".
We considered that all ads for broadband should include "up to" as, for a number of reasons, maximum line speeds are not universally available. In this case, however, we did not consider that either the "up to" or the on-screen text was an adequate indication that the service was available to such a limited number of people at the time that it was first advertised or that it would not be available to a large number of people for some time.
To cut a long story short, the ASA upheld the following four (out of five) complaints:
1. Competitors of Wanadoo and members of the public objected to the ads because they felt that the "up to 8 Meg" broadband was not available to the majority of people.
2. WCRS said that the TV ads did not include an indication of whether "up to 8 Meg" referred to either uploading or downloading speeds. They said that previous ASA adjudications and CAP advice had made this a requirement for broadband ads.
4. The ASA challenged whether TV ad A made it clear that the Wireless and Talk option was only free of charge for six months and that it cost £4 per month after this initial period.
5. We also challenged whether TV ad B made it clear that the Wireless and Talk option was only free of charge for six months and that it cost £4 per month after this initial period.
The only complaint not upheld (no.3) referenced how one person found the text in the TV ads not quite large enough to be clearly legible.
Typically the most important adjudication is the first, which referenced concerns with both the actual speed available and its limited (still a trial) coverage:
We noted that, at the time that the TV ads were first broadcast and the press ads were first published in national newspapers, only 113 of the local exchanges were unbundled. These covered 8.5% of the population. According to Wanadoo, 8 Meg broadband is achievable for 55% of people with live connections.
Assuming that 55% of people served by the 113 exchanges could achieve it, when the ads first appeared a maximum of 4.675% of the population could have got 8 Meg broadband from Wanadoo. We noted that the ads had included the words "up to" in reference to the 8 Meg claim and that the on-screen text in the TV ads included "subject to availability".
We considered that all ads for broadband should include "up to" as, for a number of reasons, maximum line speeds are not universally available. In this case, however, we did not consider that either the "up to" or the on-screen text was an adequate indication that the service was available to such a limited number of people at the time that it was first advertised or that it would not be available to a large number of people for some time.
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