Virgin Media Slapped by ASA
It is well known that ASA(Advertising Standard Authority) is an independent concern that was designed by the advertising industry to monitor as well as enforce the rules scribed in the codes of advertising. ASA is bound to safeguard the consumers by seeing that the advertisement standards are held high, even if a complaint is not lodged.
Recently, the ASA has shot into news by upholding a couple of complaints lodged against a national press advertisement for the broadband services of Virgin Media. The two advertisements in the news are reported to have made references to the internet access speeds, those were later found misleading.
Incidentally, ASA found that the speeds referred to in the advertisement, which the users could expect to enjoy, as against those connecting over a BT broadband service realized through the telephone line.
The first to complain was BSkyB who challenged the claim of Virgin Media that ten out off ten UK homes could get 20Mbps broadband speed over their fibre optic broadband network. BSkyB stated that the advertisement line was misleading, for Virgin Media network had no adequate capacity to deliver 20Mbps speed to all customers at the same time.
The second challenge was hurled by ASA itself, questioning the fair market concept of Virgin Media, by stating if the comparison between Virgin Media’s delivered speed and the speed delivered by BT over its telephone lines was a genuine one. The cause for this complaint was the quote in the advertisement that a broadband speed of 8Mbps can be delivered to 70 percent of British homes over the phone lines of BT.
Finally, ASA has given a verdict against Virgin Media that would prevent them from showing the advertisement in the context in its present form. In fact, this was the second time since February that the complaints on a national press advertisement promoting Virgin Media’s broadband service have been upheld.
