ASA finds fault with Virgin adverts
The ASA pronounced its judgment over two complaints made by Sky against two press adverts which compare Virgin Media’s and Sky’s TV, broadband and phone services. The first ad compares Virgin Media’s and Sky’s TV, broadband and phone services with respect to TV package, broadband speed and download limits offered by these companies. However, Sky charged Virgin with unfair comparison of its products as Sky claims its products are comparable with Virgin’s packages.
In another advert, Virgin has announced a package that would include its TV, Broadband and Phone services. The package will also offer 125 channels plus access to a vast library of films and TV shows Broadband with no download limits. In addition, phone services will offer unlimited weekend calls to any UK landline to Virgin’s customers. In small print, the advert says the package was priced £30 a month for 12 months and then the standard prices (£39) would apply. Sky accused Virgin of misleading the customers as the advert gave an impression that the price was not confined to any time frame and perceived as a standard rate. In addition, Sky also charged Virgin with giving false information over the services offered by Sky. For example, Sky’s other divisions offer additional services which are similar to services offered by Virgin. Similarly, Sky also provides 12-month warranty for its digital satellite equipment while advert by Virgin gave out an impression that such free servicing and repairs were only offered by Virgin.
After scrutinizing the charges made by Sky and the responses given by Virgin, the ASA concluded that the comparison between Virgin’s advertised 2Mb service and Sky’s 8Mb broadband service is unfair while Sky’s 2 Mb service was found to be comparable or even better than Virgin’s 2 Mb package. Likewise, Virgin’s advert regarding its package did not quote clearly whether it was promotional offer as it was given only in small print thus misleading the customers over the standard price of the package. Finally, the ASA had instructed Virgin not to repeat these adverts while getting help from the CAP Copy Advice Team to make necessary amendments.
