In January the Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints against a Three UK leaflet that claimed “No other network gives you more for £10.”
UK MVNO giffgaff and members of the public had contacted the ASA because giffgaff’s £10 package offered a better deal.
Now another complaint has been upheld by the ASA against Three. This one referred to a similar ad on the Three website; the headline said “No other network gives you more for £10” while additional text read “See the table below to find out how we compare to these other high-street operators”.
In its defence, Three claimed that giffgaff was not an “operator” but a mobile virtual network operator with no infrastructure and no high street presence.
The ASA ruled that the advertisement was misleading and must not be used again. In upholding the complaint, the ASA said the headline “No other network gives you more for £10” implied the comparison was with all mobile service providers. It also noted that Three had compared its prices with the Tesco, Virgin and Asda MVNOs while excluding giffgaff.
[ASA adjudication]
| We spoke to Heather Taylor from giffgaff in our podcast on 28th January 2011. Click here to listen using the audio player on our website, find the podcast via iTunes or download the MP3 directly. |