Ad description
A page on the website www.sonymobile.com, for the Xperia SP smartphone, stated "A design connoisseur's smartphone with an exquisite aluminium frame". The product was also described as having a "co-moulded aluminium frame" and a "Transparent/aluminium frame". Further text stated "Finally we chose the colours black, white and red, which complement the metal structure as well as the quality of each component". Images of the product, which featured silver-coloured elements, were also displayed.
Issue
The complainant, who had purchased the product, challenged whether the ad was misleading, because he did not believe that the frame was made from aluminium.
Response
Sony Mobile Communications AB (Sony) said the exterior frame of the product was made from pieces of aluminium and plastic moulded together and then painted, so the aluminium parts would not be visible. They advised that if a consumer scratched the phone exterior on the top or bottom edge, or on the corners, then plastic would be exposed, but that the sides of the product featured solid aluminium parts. They therefore did not feel that the ad was misleading.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged that aluminium had been used in the construction of the Xperia SP's frame. However, we were concerned that the reference in the ad to a "transparent/aluminium frame" and the colours black, red and white having been picked to "complement the metal structure", along with images featuring visible metallic-coloured elements on the exterior of the phone and the description of the aluminium frame as "exquisite", implied that the external edge of the phone was formed from aluminium, rather than a mixture of aluminium and plastic, which had subsequently been painted so the aluminium itself was not visible. We therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
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 Sony to ensure they did not imply that materials used in a product's construction were visible externally, if that was not the case.
