Background
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A paid-for YouTube ad for Prosperi Academy, an app offering financial investment training courses, seen on 25 October 2024. The ad featured an individual who said, “How do you become the first millionaire in your family?”. Text that stated “START WITH $20” then appeared on-screen, alongside a screen-recording of an individual’s bank account which showed the balance increasing in real time as transactions occurred. Well-known logos, each accompanied by a button labelled “INVEST”, were then shown.
Next, a different individual who was described as a student was shown, accompanied by the text “Invested: $20 Income: $974”. A graph on-screen showed financial transactions quickly increasing in value, as the individual who was visibly excited, said, “Oh my god, what”.
The ad then showed another screen-recording of a bank account, in which the account balance increased again as transactions occurred. Smaller text at the bottom of the screen stated, “Prosperi, as a learning platform, does not provide any investment or financial advice. Your capital may be at risk.”
Issue
The complainant challenged whether:
1. the investment return claims were misleading and could be substantiated;
2. the ad was misleading because it did not make clear the risks involved in investment; and
3. the ad was irresponsible because it took advantage of consumers’ inexperience and credulity.
Response
1. Zimran Ltd t/a Prosperi Academy said that the investment return claims in the ad were intended to illustrate the Prosperi app’s simulation tools and were not based on real data. They stated that they had removed those claims from their advertising.
2. Prosperi Academy stated the ad contained a disclaimer which they believed sufficiently highlighted the potential risks of financial investment. They acknowledged the disclaimer could be displayed more prominently, and said they would make such disclaimers clearer in their future advertising.
3. Prosperi Academy did not believe the ad took advantage of consumers’ inexperience and credulity. They said that the claim “START WITH $20” referred to the minimum input required in the app’s investment simulation, not an actual investment amount. They explained that the ad contained fictional examples designed to demonstrate the app’s simulation features which were not intended as guarantees of success. They accepted those elements may not be interpreted as they had intended and stated they had removed them from their advertising.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the claim “How do you become the first millionaire in your family?” and the screen-recording of a bank account balance rapidly increasing, that by taking Prosperi Academy’s financial investment courses, they could make high investment returns. We expected Prosperi Academy to hold robust evidence, such as data showing the investment returns made by users of the app, to substantiate those claims.
We acknowledged that the claims were intended to be inspirational and illustrative; they were not based on real data. However, we considered that it was not made sufficiently clear in the ad that the investment return claims were fictional and because of that, consumers were likely to interpret them as real results. In any case, even if it had been clear that the specific return claims were fictional, the overall impression of the ad was, nevertheless, that consumers would be able to make high investment returns by taking the advertiser’s courses. Because we had not seen any evidence to demonstrate that, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code required that marketing communications made clear that the value of investments was variable and, unless guaranteed, could go down as well as up. The ASA considered that consumers would interpret the claim “Invested: $20 Income: $974”, and the animations showing financial transactions rapidly increasing in value, to mean that large sums of money could be made quickly through financial investment.
We considered that the ad was seen on a non-specific platform and addressed to a general audience who were unlikely to have any specialist knowledge of financial investment. We acknowledged the ad contained on-screen text that stated, “Your capital may be at risk”. However, this text was in a small font placed at the bottom of the ad. The text was also partially obscured by a sponsored pop-up with a link to visit the Prosperi Academy website. That statement was therefore likely to be overlooked. Furthermore, we considered that the ad did not make explicitly clear that the value of financial investments could go down or explain how consumers’ capital might be at risk. The ad included several transactions that resulted in a profit, but did not include any transactions where a loss was made. The impression from the ad was that consumers could expect to make large sums of money rapidly, with minimal risk after investing. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 14.4 (Financial products).
3. Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the claims “How do you become the first millionaire in your family?” and “START WITH $20” that financial investment could be undertaken by those with limited resources and knowledge of the sector.
We acknowledged that the “first millionaire” claim was intended to be motivational rather than a guarantee of results. The ad did not state that “START WITH $20” referred to an in-app simulation, and we considered that consumers would understand the claim to be referring to an amount of money in a real-world investment scenario. The impression given by the ad was that individuals could make significant financial returns after investing relatively small amounts of money.
We considered that the impression that financial investment was straightforward and could be undertaken by anyone, no matter their level experience, was strengthened by the ad’s reference to a student seen rapidly making large amounts of money after investing. That suggested that groups who were likely to have fewer resources could easily improve their financial situation through investment and the use of Prosperi Academy’s product. We further considered that the options displayed in the ad of spending 5 minutes, 1 hour or 4 hours investing, suggested to consumers that they would not be required to spend significant periods of time using the Prosperi app to earn large amounts of money.
We concluded that the ad took advantage of consumers’ inexperience and credulity by suggesting large returns could be made with minimal time and financial resources. Also, it irresponsibly suggested that financial investment was straightforward, and for everyone, regardless of personal financial circumstances.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility) and 14.1 (Financial products).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Zimran Ltd t/a Prosperi Academy to ensure that they held the relevant substantiation for the claims made in their ads. We told them to ensure their ads made sufficiently clear that the value of financial investments could go down as well as up. We also told them to ensure that they did not irresponsibly take advantage of consumer’s lack of experience or credulity by implying that financial investment was straightforward, and large returns could be made with minimal time and resources.
