Posted: 26th Jul, 2007 By: MarkJ
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld three complaints against a radio advert for Tiscali's broadband packages. The advert touted Tiscali's £9.99 promotional price for longer and at a higher volume than the price it returns to after the first 3 months (£14.99):
The ASA noted Tiscali's argument that although it was spoken more quickly than all of the preceding information in the ad, the £14.99 price increase after three months was spoken clearly. We also noted, however, that the main emphasis of the ad was on the £9.99 introductory price, which was repeated many times and at a louder volume than the single reference to the £14.99 price which, in contrast, was mentioned once, quickly and softly. We considered that the increase to £14.99 after three months was a significant condition that should have been made clear in the ad. We concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code Section 2 Rule 3 (Misleadingness).