Ad description
Two TV ads and a website for British Gas HomeCare, seen in January 2018:
a. The first TV ad featured a British Gas engineer who stated, “There's no place like a warm home. We'll help you keep it that way with HomeCare boiler cover from less than 40p a day. At British Gas we have everything you need for when winter does its worst.” Text displayed on the surface of a boiler stated “Yearly boiler service … contact us 24/7”.
b. The second TV ad was as described in ad (a), except the engineer stated, “HomeCare starts for less than 40p a day. It comes with a yearly boiler service and you can contact us 24 hours a day”.
c. The British Gas website www.britishgas.co.uk, included a web page for home & boiler insurance which gave information about their HomeCare service which stated “Have an annual boiler service … You need to get your boiler serviced once a year … We can make sure your boiler is running efficiently and safely with an annual boiler service. You don’t even need to be with British Gas already”.
Issue
Five complainants, who understood that the “yearly” boiler services provided under the HomeCare plan could be up to 24 months apart, challenged whether the claims “annual boiler service” and “yearly boiler service” were misleading.
Response
British Gas Services Ltd stated that the annual service was a feature of their HomeCare product. They provided a copy of their terms and conditions which defined their annual service as a “check each year to ensure your gas boiler, appliance or central heating is safe and working properly”. They stated that a first visit would be carried out to confirm that they could cover a customer under their HomeCare contract. They explained that like most insurance contracts, HomeCare was an annual contract with a 12-month term. It included a first service (if they were in year one), or an annual service each contractual year. That meant that customers would receive or would be entitled to receive a yearly boiler service, which was why it was stated in their marketing.
They said they intended for it to be one of the features of the HomeCare product rather than a claim about it. They stated that when a customer initially purchased HomeCare, they would attempt to carry out their first service within the first 42 days to ensure that they could cover the boiler and that it was working safely and efficiently, and did not have any pre-existing faults. That would be the customer’s service for the first year and they would not require another one until the following contractual year.
They provided a copy of a section of their terms and conditions which stated that British Gas would carry out repairs or visits within a reasonable time, unless there were circumstances beyond their control which made it impossible to do so, in which case they explained that they would inform the customer as soon as possible and they would provide an alternative time to visit. If they did need to reschedule an appointment they would rearrange it for a time close to the original date, and they had processes in place to prevent it from happening multiple times. They stated that where possible they looked for other opportunities to fulfil their services, for example where a customer called for a repair which was around the same time their service was due, they would complete the service at the same time as the repair.
They acknowledged that it was possible the yearly services could be up to 23 months apart, for example, if a customer had their first service within 42 days of the contract commencing and their next service was not completed until the end of the second year, there would be around 23 months between the services. They explained that this could be the customer’s choice or because of British Gas rescheduling appointments, but that it was not the norm or something they encouraged.
Clearcast stated that British Gas had previously used the claim referring to a yearly boiler service for their HomeCare products and that the terms and conditions still stood and they did not consider it to be misleading.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that, in the absence of qualification, consumers would understand the claim “yearly boiler service” to mean that when purchasing the HomeCare plan they would receive a service of their boiler within 12 months of signing up to the plan and subsequently within a 12-month period following the first service, and again within 12-month periods for as long as they kept the plan.
We understood that in circumstances where services were rescheduled by British Gas, consumers could have to wait for longer than 12 months for their boiler service to be carried out and noted that British Gas had acknowledged that services could be up to 23 months apart on occasion. We understood that the terms and conditions of the plan set out the timescales of a first visit and stated the next service would then be carried out in the following contractual year. However, we considered that it was not sufficiently clear within the ads that rescheduled services could take place outside a 12-month or annual timeframe. We therefore concluded that the ads were misleading.
Ads (a) and (b) breached BCAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
The standards objectives, insofar as they relate to advertising, include:
a) that persons under the age of 18 are protected;
b) that material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or lead to disorder is not included in television and radio services;
c) that the proper degree of responsibility is exercised with respect to the content of programmes which are religious programmes;
d) that generally accepted standards are applied to the contents of television and radio services so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from inclusion in such services of offensive and harmful material;
e) that the inclusion of advertising which may be misleading, harmful or offensive in television and radio services is prevented;
f) that the international obligations of the United Kingdom with respect to advertising included in television and radio services are complied with [in particular in respect of television those obligations set out in Articles 3b, 3e,10, 14, 15, 19, 20 and 22 of Directive 89/552/EEC (the Audi Visual Media Services Directive)];
g) that there is no use of techniques which exploit the possibility of conveying a message to viewers or listeners, or of otherwise influencing their minds, without their being aware, or fully aware, of what has occurred"
Section
3.9
3.9
Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
2).
3.2
3.2
Advertisements must not mislead consumers 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 consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
(Misleading advertising)
3.9
3.9
Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation) and
3.10
3.10
Advertisements must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification) and ad (c) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
The standards objectives, insofar as they relate to advertising, include:
a) that persons under the age of 18 are protected;
b) that material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or lead to disorder is not included in television and radio services;
c) that the proper degree of responsibility is exercised with respect to the content of programmes which are religious programmes;
d) that generally accepted standards are applied to the contents of television and radio services so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from inclusion in such services of offensive and harmful material;
e) that the inclusion of advertising which may be misleading, harmful or offensive in television and radio services is prevented;
f) that the international obligations of the United Kingdom with respect to advertising included in television and radio services are complied with [in particular in respect of television those obligations set out in Articles 3b, 3e,10, 14, 15, 19, 20 and 22 of Directive 89/552/EEC (the Audi Visual Media Services Directive)];
g) that there is no use of techniques which exploit the possibility of conveying a message to viewers or listeners, or of otherwise influencing their minds, without their being aware, or fully aware, of what has occurred"
Section
3.9
3.9
Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
2).
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)
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation) and
3.9
3.9
Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Qualification).
Action
The ads must not appear in their current form. We told British Gas Services Ltd that when making the claim “yearly boiler service” to make clear what was meant by that, and that there would be circumstances which meant that services would not always be carried out within 12 months of the most recent service.
