Virgin Media's 'Sky upgrade' campaign banned

A direct mail campaign launched by Virgin Media has been banned by the UK advertising watchdog for misleading customers into thinking that it was an upgrade pack from pay-TV rival Sky.

The campaign, launched in late June, involved an official-looking jiffy bag being sent to customers bearing the prominent text reading: "Satellite TV Upgrade Pack."

Smaller text stated that the bag contained "everything you need" to "upgrade to a better TV experience". A small vertical message on the right-hand side of the envelope revealed that it was "promotional material from Virgin Media".

Sky complained that the direct mail campaign was in breach of the advertising code because it "was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication".

Virgin Media attempted to argue that the jiffy bag was clearly marked as containing "marketing communications" and made clear "the source or nature of the mailing".

In its ruling, the ASA upheld Sky's complaint that the direct mail misled consumers into thinking that it was an official upgrade from the satellite broadcaster.

"We considered the ad did not make clear that it was a marketing communication, or that it was sent with commercial intent, and concluded that it breached the Code," it added.

After finding various breaches of the advertising code, the ASA said that the campaign must not be run again in its current form. It also warned Virgin to ensure future ads "made clear that they were marketing communications and that they were sent with commercial intent".

Sky also complained that "upgrade to a better TV experience" was misleading and could not be substantiated, because it did not believe Virgin Media "could demonstrate that their picture quality was better than Sky's".

The firm was particularly concerned about the statement that making the switch to Virgin Media would mean an end to "frozen pictures caused by bad weather".

Sky's satellite signal can be disrupted by heavy snowfall or rain, thus affecting the picture quality, but Virgin Media's cable TV infrastructure is not hindered by such problems.

However, the ASA decided not to uphold that part of the complaint, saying: "We understood that it was the case that satellite signals, and therefore picture quality, could be affected by bad weather, whereas cable TV would not be affected in that way, and we considered it was not misleading for Virgin to refer to that in their advertising.

"We also considered that consumers were likely to regard a TV service which was not affected by bad weather to be providing a 'better TV experience' than one that was. We concluded the claims were not misleading in that regard."

in September last year, the ASA rapped Virgin Media over a "denigratory" direct mail campaign featuring highly critical testimonials from ex-Sky customers about the satellite broadcaster's customer service and picture quality.