BT unleashes watchdog on rival ads

BT unleashes watchdog on rival adsBT has launched a concerted attack on its broadband rivals’ advertising campaigns, but has only managed a limited hit rate after the ad watchdog threw out the vast majority of its complaints.
The company’s legal team has obviously been busy picking through the minutiae of small print of ads from Sky, Talk Talk, Virgin Media and Relish, with complaints about 11 separate issues logged this week alone.
However, the Advertising Standards Authority rejected concerns over both Sky and Talk Talk campaigns, while only two out of four complaints against Relish – one of which had already been altered – were upheld.
But poor old Virgin Media – which is hauled up before the ad watchdog more often than a serial criminal goes in front of the beak – was banged to rights once more.
The company failed to defend itself against three separate complaints over five national press ads and one posted on its website. The ASA ruled it had misled subscribers with savings deals for its so-called “Starter Collection” product.
The watchdog also agreed with BT, that Virgin had “encouraged consumers to make a transaction decision within a limited time period”.
“We told Virgin Media to ensure ads did not mislead consumers about the time limited nature of advertised offers. We also told Virgin to ensure that closing dates were made sufficiently clear and to ensure that savings claims were not likely to mislead consumers,” the ASA said.
In October, BSkyB successfully protested that a TV ad for Virgin Media’s Big Kahuna Bundle (pictured) was misleading as it implied that Sky Sports was included in the advertised price.

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