Virgin Media has again been shot down by the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) over an ad campaign.
A national press ad with the headline 'Hate to wait?' showed a table with
download times for different files depending on the customer's broadband
package.
Small print at the bottom stated 'Download speed comparisons are a guide only
and assume song is 5Mb and TV show 30 minutes/341Mb. Both cable and ADSL
broadband are affected by user volume. Acceptable usage policy applies.'
BT claimed that the ad was misleading because Virgin's Traffic Management
Policy capped customer speeds during peak hours, and could not therefore deliver
the advertised download rates during that period.
Virgin Media acknowledged that it implemented Subscriber Traffic Management
(STM) between 4pm and 9pm.
But the firm insisted that the system was only focused on the heaviest
downloaders and uploaders on the network, because it was their actions that
slowed down internet speeds for other users.
Furthermore, Virgin Media explained that STM was controlled depending on
which package a user subscribed to, and hence would only be initiated if
customers downloaded an abnormal amount of data at peak time.
Despite this, the ASA upheld BT's challenge on the grounds of Substantiation
and Truthfulness.
The ASA concluded that, in the absence of any clarifying text, readers were
likely to understand that the download speeds referenced in the ad applied at
all times.
The watchdog considered that the text 'Acceptable usage policy applies' did
not make the peak time restrictions clear.
It would be reasonable for readers to expect to be able to download at least
one half-hour TV show on the M package, or several half-hour TV shows on the L
package, during the five-hour peak period without breaching Virgin's traffic
management system and having their speed capped.
The ASA instructed Virgin to clarify future ads and advised the company to
seek guidance from the ASA's Copy Advice team when preparing similar ads in the
future.
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