‘Misleading’ BT Sport ads pulled by the ASA following customer and Sky complaints
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a series of BT Sports adverts which claimed that the service was ‘free’ to existing customers, despite the fact that their contracts had to be renewed, after the discrepancy drew 26 complaints from viewers.
The pricing pledge was a key plank of BT Sport’s marketing push and was present on a number of newspaper and television ads, all of which described the service as ‘free’ to those willing to sign-up or renew their TV and broadband packages.
However several dozen members of the public and rival provider Sky thought differently, alleging that the ‘fee’ claim did not stack up as consumers were required to sign up for a contract.
In its defence BT insisted that it had made clear the requirements of the offer in the small print of its promotional material and offered to display this more prominently in future material.
Dismissing this solution however the ASA pointed out that existing BT TV consumers were still likely to conclude that they could receive BT Sport for free at no additional cost without action on their part.
In a statement the ASA said: “We told BT to ensure their future ads made clear the extent of the commitment consumers must make to take advantage of a free offer and that price claims were not misleading, and were not contradicted.”
Acknowledging the complaints BT said that it would now make the necessary changes.