Ad description
A TV ad for Sky, seen in October 2022, began with a black and white animation of Minions interacting with devices inside each of ten rooms in a four-storey house, shown as an elevation of the interior of the building. A voice-over stated, “Don’t settle for patchy Wi-Fi”, as a Minion banged on an old-looking router in the attic, which had a make-shift aerial constructed from coat hangers taped to it with tangled wires attached. The router then transformed into a larger and newer “Sky” router, with an explosion of sparkle and colour that spread out from the box and across the screen. The voice-over continued, stating, “Sky Wi-Fi guarantees broadband that covers the whole home or your money back”, as the Minion smiled and then skated into several rooms to other Minions who were also shaking or banging on devices that were not working. In each room the skating Minion spread colour or shot a spell from their hand, and there was an explosion and the devices began to work, including a tablet, a computer screen, TVs, a mobile and a virtual reality headset, while background music featured with vocals including “All around the world”. On-screen text at the foot of the screen stated, “Requires Sky Broadband and Hub 4 (loaned). Fibre products only. Min. 3Mb/s in up to 12 rooms, or one month’s Broadband subscription back”.
The Minion finally skated into a room in which a disco ball was being set up and other Minions started to dance on a light-up dance floor. The screen zoomed out to show the disco was in an underground basement of the house, an additional level of the four-storey house previously seen, and the Minions were all using devices online simultaneously in each room of the house. The voice-over stated, “That’s Wi-Fi from loft to lair at no extra cost from Sky broadband”, and the ad ended with on-screen text stating, “Sky broadband WIFI FROM LOFT TO LAIR OR MONEY BACK”.
Issue
British Telecommunications Plc, who believed that Sky’s advertised broadband offering did not include any extenders or boosters, challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that customers would receive seamless Wi-Fi in every room of a house, including hard-to-reach places with coverage issues.
Response
Sky UK Ltd t/a Sky said the ad promoted their ‘Wall to Wall Wi-Fi Guarantee’, which promised customers that either they would achieve a 3 Mbps download speed in up to 12 rooms of their home, or if not then they would receive money back in the form of a credit of one month’s broadband subscription. Sky highlighted that the voice-over in the ad stated, “Sky Wi-Fi guarantees broadband that covers the whole home or money back”, and was consistent with the imagery used and the on-screen text. Sky said the ad therefore explicitly acknowledged that some customers with Sky Broadband would experience Wi-Fi issues, and the money back offer made it clear that they were not offering a ‘solution’ to patchy Wi-Fi or ‘improving’ coverage. They added that the “money back” element of their guarantee therefore should not be separated from the Wi-Fi performance element.
Additionally, Sky said the claims in their ad including “Don’t settle for patchy Wi-Fi”, and “Sky Broadband guarantees Wi-Fi that covers the whole home or money back”, did not make any absolute, categorical, claims about their hub’s Wi-Fi performance, and when taken as a whole and viewed in context it was clear they were referring to their guarantee. Sky also said the claim was an invitation to customers who had experienced Wi-Fi issues in their home, without their current provider acknowledging it and compensating them and not to settle for that. They were encouraging customers to switch to Sky Broadband so they could be guaranteed recompense should they experience patchy Wi-Fi. They said the statement did not imply that the Sky router was the answer or solution to Wi-Fi coverage issues.
Sky added they had qualified in the on-screen text in the ad that by “whole home” they meant a home of up to 12 rooms including five bedrooms, and that eligible customers, those unable to achieve a download speed of 3 Mbps in up to 12 rooms, and who were using a Sky Hub 4 on Sky fibre broadband, would receive a credit. Sky said that at the beginning of January 2023, all 15,158 customers to date who had met the eligibility criteria and claimed, had been issued with a credit under the guarantee. They also provided testing data which they explained indicated that in 2,082 out of 2,102 (99%) real homes tested, at least 3 Mbps was achieved in up to 12 rooms, including in houses with five bedrooms.
Clearcast said that when reviewing the ad they understood that the fibre broadband package being advertised was an existing product on the market, but the proposition of guaranteeing Wi-Fi from ‘loft to lair’ was new. They also understood that Sky had tested the broadband signal from their Hub 4 router and the ad showcased that element of their service. Clearcast considered that the claims in the ad were transparent and straightforward, and there was no indication that customers would likely experience or be guaranteed ‘seamless’ Wi-Fi in every room of the house, but rather they would receive a minimum of 3 Mbps in every room in up to 12 rooms or they would be reimbursed, as explained in the ad. They highlighted that the main terms of the guarantee were included in the legal supers at the bottom of the screen.
Clearcast said Sky had provided a sample of 102 household test data on a range of properties from 3 to 13 rooms, and they were satisfied that download speeds of well over 3 Mbps was achievable in households of up to 12 rooms. Clearcast acknowledged that the test sample was small but they had felt reassured by the money-back guarantee offered to customers.
Clearcast said there was no indication in the visuals, voice-over or legal supers of the ad that extenders or boosters were being used for the customer to achieve a minimum of 3 Mbps throughout a home of up to 12 rooms. They said Sky had confirmed that all the activities shown by the various Minion characters in the ad such as gaming, streaming and video conferencing, could be achieved with download speeds of 3 Mbps. The only exception was their new Sky Glass product which they confirmed they would not be showcasing in the campaign.
Clearcast had concluded that because Sky was upfront about the nature of the money-back guarantee and clearly signposted their refund policy, they felt confident that they were not materially misleading customers or exaggerating the capability of the service in the ad.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the sequence of events in the ad, which began with the claim “Don’t settle for patchy Wi-Fi”, suggested that switching to the Sky router had had a transformative effect on the Wi-Fi coverage in the house. The ad emphasised that there were initially Wi-Fi signal issues with every device in the house; Minions were banging and shaking an old router with a make-shift aerial taped to it and there were various devices shown with blank screens. When the router transformed into a larger, more up-to-date Sky router, the scene, shown in black and white, switched to colour and the Wi-Fi connection worked instantly, with all the devices shown operating simultaneously in every room of the house. We considered the ad portrayed the switch to Sky broadband with an almost magic-like quality and a Minion was shown skating between rooms and shooting spell-like beams towards the blank devices, and in each room there was an explosion of sparkle and colour. The tone of the ad after the switch to Sky was also gleeful with Minions cheering and celebrating when the devices worked, and the ad concluded with Minions dancing with disco lights in the basement. We therefore considered that viewers would be likely to understand from the ad that Sky’s fibre broadband service provided Wi-Fi coverage throughout a reasonably sized home. Also, in instances where patchy Wi-Fi or signal problems occurred, the signal strength and coverage of Wi-Fi could be significantly improved.
We understood that the fibre broadband offering in the ad related to the Sky Hub 4 router, and did not otherwise feature any equipment that would boost the range or speed of Wi-Fi beyond that of a standard router. Sky had provided testing data of the Sky Hub 4 from over 2,000 homes, indicating that speeds of 3 Mbps were achieved in each room 99% of the time. However, we understood that there was not otherwise any features of the service that could improve Wi-Fi coverage across the home or intermittent signal, as we considered the ad would likely be interpreted by viewers.
We acknowledged that the ad included claims relating to Sky’s money-back guarantee. It featured the voice-over statement “Sky Wi-Fi guarantees broadband that covers the whole home or your money back” and concluded with the on-screen text statement “Sky broadband WIFI FROM LOFT TO LAIR OR MONEY BACK”. We noted that the terms of the guarantee were also communicated, but only within the text supers at the foot of the screen that were visible for part of the ad, with the statement “Min. 3Mb/s in up to 12 rooms, or one month’s Broadband subscription back.”. However, we considered the key focus of the ad was the messaging relating to Sky’s Wi-Fi coverage throughout the home with the claim “Don’t settle for patchy Wi-Fi”, and the depiction of the Minions restoring the Wi-Fi connection to devices in each room of the house with the new Sky router. We therefore considered that the statements informing viewers of the money-back guarantee were insufficient in counteracting the overall impression that Sky’s broadband service could improve patchy Wi-Fi.Because we considered that the ad, as it was likely to be understood by viewers, suggested that Sky’s fibre broadband provided Wi-Fi coverage throughout a home and could significantly improve patchy Wi-Fi, we concluded that the ad exaggerated the performance of the product and therefore that it was likely to mislead.
The ad breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 (Misleading Advertising) and 3.12 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Sky UK Ltd t/a Sky to ensure future ads did not misleadingly exaggerate the performance of Sky’s fibre broadband in its capability to provide coverage throughout a home and improve patchy Wi-Fi.
