Ad description
A press ad for Virgin Media, seen on 1 February 2012, stated "Faster for a fiver". Further text stated "Our up to 30Mb broadband is four times faster than the UK average.^ And it's all yours for just £5 a month for the first three months, then £18.50 after that. Virgin phone line applies". At the bottom of the ad was small print that stated "VIRGIN MEDIA LINE RENTAL £13.90 APPLIES. SERVICES AVAILABLE IN VIRGIN MEDIA CABLED STREETS ONLY. Subject to network capacity, status and credit checks. 18 month minimum contract applies. If you cancel during your minimum contract period an early disconnection fee will apply. This offer requires you to pay by Direct Debit and use ebilling. If you prefer not to pay by Direct Debit you will incur a monthly £5 payment handling fee payable to Virgin Media Payments Ltd. If you would like paper bills, the fee is £1.75 a month. Equipment remains the property of Virgin Media. Offer ends 31/03/12. New customers only. Subject to status and credit checks. To get bundle discount applied you must take a bundle containing Broadband XL with a phone line. A discount of £13.50/month will be applied with a Broadband XL phone bundle. Standard prices apply after first three months. Virgin Media reserves the right to withdraw or amend discount if you change any part of your offer package. May not be used in conjunction with any other offer, unless stated by Virgin Media. Headline bundle price (i.e. prices before discount is applied) may vary during this offer. ^Source Ofcom review of UK broadband speeds published in July 2011, based on Ofcom May 2011 test results. General All prices include VAT. Information correct at Jan 2012. Payment may be required in advance. Further legal stuff applies. Go to virginmedia.com for details".
Issue
The complainant, who did not believe the small print was legible, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Virgin Media Ltd (Virgin) said their minimum font size for small print in press was between 5.5 and 6 points. They said the small print in this ad was well within that range at 5.866 points, which they believed to be clearly visible to a normally-sighted person. Virgin believed that the industry standard for small print was on average between point size 4 and 4.5, and so the small print in this ad was quite a bit larger than average. They also said they had no control over the printing process of press ads and therefore were not in a position to ensure text was reproduced correctly and that there was no blurring of the words.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted that Virgin believed the small print would be visible to a normally-sighted person, and that they did not believe they had control over the printing process. However, we considered that the size of the text, in combination with the low quality of the print, meant it was not clearly visible to a normally-sighted person reading the marketing communication once, from a reasonable distance and at a reasonable speed. We noted that the small print contained information that did not appear elsewhere in the ad, such as the price of the line rental and the minimum contract length, and we considered this information to be material to consumers' understanding of the offer. Because the small print was not presented clearly, and contained material information, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising) and
3.10
3.10
Qualifications must be presented clearly.
CAP has published a Help Note on Claims that Require Qualification.
(Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Virgin to ensure that qualifications were presented clearly.
