Tech
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Sky advert that criticised Virgin Media for offering discounted prices to new customers.
The advert, which ran in national and regional press, had the headline text: "Why do existing Virgin Media customers often pay more than new ones?" Subsequent text advertised: "At Sky we think it's wrong to advertise attractive sounding prices that are often only available to new customers, not loyal ones. We believe it's right that all our customers should enjoy consistently low prices across all our products."
Five people complained to the ASA. One complainant said that she had been quoted a price of £159 to upgrade to Sky+ although a new customer would pay £49; another said that Sky+ was available free and with free installation to new customers and not to existing ones.
In its response, Sky said that "new and existing customers paid the same standard prices for their subscription services and digital satellite equipment" and that the advert "promoted the message that their standard prices were available to both new and existing customers whereas Virgin Media's standard prices were often lower for new customers than for existing ones". Furthermore, Sky added "that standard prices should be seen as distinct from special offers they ran periodically for time limited periods" and that "they did not include their special offers in the comparison claim made in the ad". Sky said they had "included Virgin Media's special offers in the comparison because they believed those offers were in fact standard prices" and supplied a copy of a "Truth, Lies and Broadband" ad from Virgin Media to back up their claims.
The ASA ruled that "because existing Sky customers were not able to take part in some offers" - such as the free Sky+ available through the "introduce a friend" offer, there was a contradiction in the claim "we think it's wrong to advertise attractive sounding prices that are often only available to new customers".
The ASA concluded that the ad was misleading because it "would be understood by a reader to mean that Sky's prices were always the same for new and existing customers".
The advert, which ran in national and regional press, had the headline text: "Why do existing Virgin Media customers often pay more than new ones?" Subsequent text advertised: "At Sky we think it's wrong to advertise attractive sounding prices that are often only available to new customers, not loyal ones. We believe it's right that all our customers should enjoy consistently low prices across all our products."
Five people complained to the ASA. One complainant said that she had been quoted a price of £159 to upgrade to Sky+ although a new customer would pay £49; another said that Sky+ was available free and with free installation to new customers and not to existing ones.
In its response, Sky said that "new and existing customers paid the same standard prices for their subscription services and digital satellite equipment" and that the advert "promoted the message that their standard prices were available to both new and existing customers whereas Virgin Media's standard prices were often lower for new customers than for existing ones". Furthermore, Sky added "that standard prices should be seen as distinct from special offers they ran periodically for time limited periods" and that "they did not include their special offers in the comparison claim made in the ad". Sky said they had "included Virgin Media's special offers in the comparison because they believed those offers were in fact standard prices" and supplied a copy of a "Truth, Lies and Broadband" ad from Virgin Media to back up their claims.
The ASA ruled that "because existing Sky customers were not able to take part in some offers" - such as the free Sky+ available through the "introduce a friend" offer, there was a contradiction in the claim "we think it's wrong to advertise attractive sounding prices that are often only available to new customers".
The ASA concluded that the ad was misleading because it "would be understood by a reader to mean that Sky's prices were always the same for new and existing customers".
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