Sunday, April 1, 2012

Improved advertising guidelines for broadband services - begin today

From today, new guidelines operate for advertisements on broadband services, adopted by the Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP) following a comprehensive public consultation. These help advertisers interpret the Misleading Advertising sections of the Advertising Codes.
CAP and BCAP reviewed these claims following a request by the ASA. The ASA was concerned about whether consumers could actually achieve advertised speeds and “unlimited” usage of telecommunications services.

CAP and BCAP consider that advertised maximum speeds should be based on the actual experience of an ISP’s customers. Advertisers should be able to demonstrate that the speeds claimed in their advertising can be achieved by a reasonable proportion of consumers.

As for “unlimited” claims, these are likely to mislead if telecommunications providers charge their customers or suspend their services for excessive usage, or impose immoderate traffic management, contrary to customers’ expectations of an “unlimited” service.
The two "help notes are available to download:

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