Ad description
A radio ad for Gold Bank, heard on 5 August 2020, stated "Offering bars from less than £60, Gold Bank London is the easy way for you to begin your gold ownership journey".
Issue
The complainant, who understood that in order to buy gold for less than £60 consumers had to achieve a certain level of membership with Gold Bank, challenged whether the claim “bars from less than £60” was misleading.Response
Gold Warehouse Ltd t/a Gold Bank said that there were a few products on their website available for less than £60 and provided some examples which they said could be purchased for less than £60 by non-members. Gold Bank said they were prepared to add a qualification to the ad informing consumers that the price from which gold was available might vary depending on live gold prices. Radiocentre said that they did not have any further comments on the complaint.Assessment
Upheld The ASA considered that listeners would understand the claim “Offering bars from less than £60 …” to mean that they could buy gold bars at under £60 from Gold Bank. We noted that the prices on Gold Bank’s website featured a number of different tiers depending on consumers’ “account level”. Consumers advanced through the account levels by purchasing gold on the website – with “Bronze” being the lowest, starter level and “Diamond” being the highest level. Each account level conferred successively greater levels of saving. The ad did not refer to the fact that there were different levels of membership, and we considered that listeners would expect the price to apply from their first purchase. We noted that the ad stated that using their service was the “easy way for you to begin your gold ownership journey”, and that was likely to further that impression. We noted the examples provided by Gold Bank of gold bars available on their website, which they said were available for less than £60. The first was a 0.1g piece of “Cash Gold”, available to Bronze account members for £10.17. The second was a 0.5g “Gold Coin” available to Bronze account members for £60.21. We considered the examples provided by Gold Bank were of prices for a piece of gold and a gold coin, rather than gold bars. And in any case, the price of one of those items was greater than the price claimed in the ad. For those reasons, we concluded that the claim “Offering bars from less than £60…” was misleading and had not been substantiated. The ad 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 In setting or revising any such standards, Ofcom must have regard, in particular and to such extent as appears to them to be relevant to the securing of the standards objectives, to each of these matters:
a) the degree of harm or offence likely to be caused by the inclusion of any particular sort of material in programmes generally, or in programmes of a particular description;
b) the likely size and composition of a potential audience for programmes included in television and radio services generally, or in television and radio services of a particular description;
c) the likely expectation of the audience as to the nature of a programme's content and the extent to which the nature of the programme's content can be brought to the attention of potential members of the audience;
d) the likelihood of persons who are unaware of the nature of the programme's content being unintentionally exposed, by their own actions, to that content;
e) the desirability of securing that the content of services identifies when there is a change affecting the nature of a service that is being watched or listened to and, in particular, a change that is relevant to the application of the standards set under this section...".
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. 4).
(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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Gold Warehouse Ltd t/a Gold Bank to ensure that their future marketing communications did not mislead by claiming that consumers could purchase gold for a certain price when they could not, or where a certain level of account was needed to obtain that price.
