EE forced to pull the plug on 'Clocking Off' ad campaign

A major EE ad campaign, designed to show how its Wi-Fi 7 Smart Hub Pro and Smart WiFi Pro can transform online connectivity even in the busiest households, has been unplugged by the ad watchdog after being ruled misleading.

Spearheaded by a TV ad “Clocking Off”, the integrated campaign launched last October and was developed by Saatchi & Saatchi, LeShop, GroupM, Digitas UK, and Boomerang, with key placements across major shows like Good Morning, Gogglebox, Great British Bake Off, and Big Brother.

As the Pet Shop Boys classic Left to My Own Devices played, the ad TV opened with gloomy scenes of people performing robotic, routine tasks at work, shot in monochrome. As the clock hit 16:59 they prepared to leave and head home and scenes moved to vibrant colour, symbolising the transition from a mundane workday to a lively home environment.

At home, each individual encountered a busy household with multiple devices competing for bandwidth, resulting in delays and frustration. Once the WiFi 7 kicks in, however, family members can be seen enjoying their own moments of peace and connectivity, from recording a TikTok and watching a film, to gaming and video calling, showcasing what EE’s Wi-Fi 7 enabled technology brings to every home.

The spot ended with the familiar voice of Kevin Bacon announcing: “When everyone’s home and caning the broadband, EE’s new Wi-Fi 7 router makes every device work better, even yours.”

It was supported by radio, Facebook and outdoor activity which made similar claims, including that even gaming devices would work better.

However, Wi-Fi 7 can only really deliver its biggest improvements, such as when compared with older Wi-Fi 6 or 6E kit, if the devices it is connecting to are also able to support the same Wi-Fi 7 standard. Yet what the ads did not say was that most people do not currently have any other Wi-Fi 7 capable devices in their homes.

Vodafone, Community Fibre and 19 members of the public, who understood most devices available at the time the ads were seen did not support Wi-Fi 7, challenged whether the claim that “EE’s new Wi-Fi 7 router makes every device work better” was misleading. The Advertising Standards Authority then launched an investigation.

In its defence, EE said that it accepted that not all devices were compatible with Wi-Fi 7 but said that the claims were always qualified with the text “EE’s exclusive Smart Wi-Fi Pro”.

The company believed the claims were not misleading because Smart Wi-Fi Pro combined a new Wi-Fi 7 router with a Wi-Fi 7 extender, which could not be purchased separately, and their ads always referred to “Smart Wi-Fi Pro, exclusively from EE” to highlight that combination.

It also provided results of tests it had carried out, although these were limited to three laptops “because laptops had a Wi-Fi configuration that was standard across most devices, including smartphones and tablets”. The tests did not include gaming consoles, even though these were included in the ads.

And, it seems, the ASA was having none of it.

Its ruling stated: “We understood that, alongside the Wi-Fi 7 router, an extender was supplied as part of the package to extend the range of the router’s signal around the home. However, we considered that was not clear from the ad.

“We acknowledged that the claims in the ads were always qualified with the text ‘EE’s exclusive Smart Wi-Fi Pro’. While this implied the product was unique to EE and may have offered benefits that were not available from other Wi-Fi 7 routers, we did not consider that it clarified how the products worked. Although (the radio ad) referenced the router, none of the ads indicated that the Smart Wi-Fi Pro included both the router and the extender.

“We considered that the testing was not adequate to substantiate the claims in the context of ads that ‘every device works better’, as consumers would understand them.”

Because the evidence was not adequate to substantiate the claims as consumers would interpret them, the ASA concluded the claim “EE’s new Wi-Fi 7 router makes every device work better” as well as the references to specific devices were misleading.

Banning all executions of the ad, the watchdog went on to warn EE over future activity.