Ad description
A national press ad for Hearing Information Service featured text that stated “STOP! Hearing problem? Make sure you get the right solution! Should you go NHS or Private for your hearing aids? This essential FREE GUIDE will help you choose the right option for you! FREE expertly written guide will take you through the steps involved in applying for a free digital hearing aid through the NHS compared to going Private. INCLUDES - What you need to qualify for a free NHS digital hearing aid What you have to do to obtain an NHS digital hearing aid What types of aids and level of service can you expect from the NHS Advice on what hearing aid might be most suitable for you Advantages and disadvantages of going private To order your FREE copy call the Hearing Information Service today on ...”.
The ad also featured a picture of a man and woman with text underneath that stated “NHS or Private Hearing Aids? Find out which option is right for you with the Hearing Information Service’s consumer guide”. At the bottom of the ad was small print, which stated “Hearing Information Service - publishing hearing care advice on behalf of commercial providers of hearing aids”.
Issue
Two complainants challenged whether the ad made sufficiently clear that Hearing Information Service were a commercial company.
Response
Bloom Hearing Specialists Ltd stated that The Hearing Information Service was their information publishing division, which dealt with consumers responding to their press ads. Most of those enquiries would then subsequently be dealt with by professionally trained and registered hearing aid audiologists at Bloom Hearing Specialists. Based on the outcome of the free hearing test, the hearing aid audiologist would then usually offer a private hearing solution, or refer the enquirer to their local GP if appropriate.
Bloom Hearing Specialists stated that their “NHS or Private Hearing Aids” guidance took consumers through the steps involved in applying for a free digital hearing aid through the NHS compared to going private. The guide was heavily weighted towards publishing clear guidelines on what could be provided on the NHS compared to going private. Bloom Hearing Specialists further stated that they believed that the small print in the ad “Hearing Information Service - publishing hearing care advice on behalf of commercial providers of hearing aids” made their commercial intent sufficiently clear, but following the ASA's enquiries, had now located the statement more prominently in the body copy of their marketing material.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood that consumers who responded to the ad would initially be put through to The Hearing Information Service, which would then refer them to Bloom Hearing Specialists. Consumers could then be seen by a hearing aid audiologist from Bloom Hearing Specialists, who would usually offer a private hearing solution.
We noted that the ad included the text “Make sure you get the right solution!”, “Should you go NHS or Private for your hearing aids? This essential FREE GUIDE will help you choose the right option for you!”, “FREE expertly written guide will take you through the steps involved in applying for a free digital hearing aid through the NHS compared to going Private”, “What you need to qualify for a free NHS digital hearing aid”, “What you have to do to obtain an NHS digital hearing aid”, “What types of aids and level of service can you expect from the NHS”, “Advice on what hearing aid might be most suitable for you” and “Advantages and disadvantages of going private”. We considered that this suggested that The Hearing Information Service was an independent organisation offering impartial advice on whether consumers should get their hearing aids from the NHS or go private, depending on their individual circumstances and consequently, was contradicted by the small print regarding The Hearing Information Service’s commercial intent.
We noted that the ad included text that stated “Hearing Information Service - publishing hearing care advice on behalf of commercial providers of hearing aids”. We considered that the reasonable and circumspect consumer was likely to interpret this as meaning that The Hearing Information Service was an organisation that issued advice on hearing aids for commercial purposes. Furthermore, we noted that the text was in small print located at the bottom of the ad, which we considered was not sufficiently prominent, although we acknowledged that it now appeared in the body copy of Bloom Hearing Specialists' marketing material.
Therefore, because the ad had not made sufficiently clear that the purpose of The Hearing Information Service was to supply a flow of potential customers to a company that privately sold hearing aids, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
2.3
2.3
Marketing communications must not falsely claim or imply that the marketer is acting as a consumer or for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession; marketing communications must make clear their commercial intent, if that is not obvious from the context.
(Recognition of Marketing Communications),
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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Bloom Hearing Specialists Ltd that their future advertising must make sufficiently clear that they were a commercial company.
