PC World pulled up over advert

PC World has been wrapped on the knuckles for misleading viewers with one of its adverts.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the TV ad for the £349 Advent 7000A Intel Celeron M laptop had breached the CAP broadcast codes on misleading advertising, implications and qualifications.

"A huge 40GB hard drive, great for watching DVDs, movies... It's our lowest ever priced laptop. You'll find it hard to beat even on the internet, and I guarantee they won't be in stock for much longer at this price..." said the salesman in the advert.

The advert received six complaints - three from viewers who said it had sold out in shops and online while the ad was still playing; one from a buyer who was offered the laptop as part of a more expensive package; and two who questioned whether the "huge 40GB hard drive" wasn't standard for a laptop.

The ASA upheld two of the complaints and dismissed the other.

"The number of laptops was not sufficient to meet demand for such a low priced item. We therefore considered PC World did not have adequate stock," said the ruling.

PC World tried to argue that the claim over the size of the hard drive was subjective and the advert was supposed to illustrate that there had been no cost cutting on such an inexpensive laptop.

However, the ASA said it understood that a 40GB drive was fairly standard for laptops.

"We appreciated the intention had been to show the laptop was not underpowered, but by claiming the hard drive was 'huge' the ad had exaggerated the technical specifications that would normally be expected with such a computer," the ruling stated.

However, the ASA found that the complainant who was offered the laptop only as part of a more expensive bundle was misled by shop staff rather than the advert itself.

"We noted the laptops were available to buy separately, and not as part of a package," said the ASA's statement.

"It was unfortunate that the viewer was given the wrong information, but it appeared to have been an isolated incident. We considered the ad had not breached the Code on this point."

The ASA ruling said that the advert should not be shown again in its current form.