Ad description
A pre-roll ad on YouTube for the Qinux TitanPG watch, seen on 5 June 2024, made various claims about the features of the product. The voice-over stated, “This crazy £69 military smart watch is going to be banned from the public. This former UK Special Forces operator built a groundbreaking new smart watch and it’s taking the watch market by storm in the UK. It uses some of the most advanced military technology in the world. This technology lets you monitor your activity and health, communicate with others and navigate outdoors. And, the smart watch is made with the strongest military materials making it indestructible. Analysts predict this will be the most popular smart watch of 2024. Here’s how the journey began ten months ago. Mark used to work as a special forces operator for the UK army. They wore next-level tactical smartwatches during their missions.” On-screen text replicated the voice-over. Additionally, the text stated, “you can wear it for up to 2 weeks without needing to recharge it again”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claims about the product’s military background, its robustness and the advanced nature of the technology it used were misleading and could be substantiated.Response
DeVosVoorzieningen BVBA did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.Assessment
Upheld.
The ASA was concerned by DeVosVoorzieningen BVBA’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.We considered viewers were likely to expect the various claims made about the watch to have a factual basis and be substantiated by evidence which showed that the watch used some of the most advanced military technology in the world; that the technology would enable the wearer to monitor their activity and health, to communicate with others and to navigate outdoors; that it was made from the strongest, military-grade materials; that it could be worn for up to two weeks without needing to be recharged; and that it was predicted to be the most popular smart watch of 2024. However, we had seen no evidence to support any of those claims.
We therefore concluded that the claims were misleading and that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.33 (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told DeVosVoorzieningen BVBA not to make material factual or comparative claims about their products, for example in relation to the capabilities of the technology, the robustness of the construction, the length of time between charges or its popularity compared with other smart watches, in the absence of adequate evidence. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
