Hardly a week goes by without media firms Sky and Virgin Media falling foul of the advertising code over the finer detail of ‘small print’ – and this week it is the turn of Sky to the incur the wrath of the Advertising Standards Authority.
The latest ban follows a TV ad promoting Sky+HD, which showed fans watching various football games in a stadium. The voiceover stated “Because you can’t always be there, enjoy the new season on five Sky Sports channels and ESPN, all in high definition, only with Sky. Join or upgrade today, get a free Sky+ HD box and free standard set up”.
But the small print in the ad failed to mention that customers were required to have a landline in order to receive the service at the price stated, triggering just a single complaint.
Sky defended the ad by saying it was not an absolute requirement for the box to be connected to a landline; it was required for the first 12 months only, and a customer could choose to pay £25 if they did not wish to connect their box in that period. It had also been passed by Clearcast – the organisation founded in 2008 by Britain’s eight largest commercial broadcasters to simplify the process of getting advertising to air.
Clearcast said that all ads were checked to ensure that on-screen text complied with the BCAP Code, and, having reviewed the ad in light of the complaint, it remained satisfied that the text complied.
But the ASA disagreed, ruling that as the service was not available at the price without a landline – or a one-off payment – the ad was misleading. It concluded that the ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.
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