Virgin Media “satellite upgrade packs” banned
November 2, 2011
BSkyB has succeeded in getting a Virgin Media direct mail campaign banned for potentially tricking consumers into thinking it was an official offer of a TV upgrade from its pay-TV rival – but lost a bid to stop Virgin being able to claim it offered a “better TV experience”.
Sky lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority over a campaign from Virgin Media that arrived in an official-looking jiffy bag promising a “satellite TV upgrade pack” to households. They gave the appearance of being an official communication from Sky.
The ASA banned the ad for breaching rules about misleading advertising and “recognition of marketing communications”.
The satellite operator also complained that a statement made in text in the advertising that switching away from Sky meant an end to “frozen pictures caused by bad weather” was misleading and could not be proved.
But the ASA rejected the company’s attempt to get Virgin’s claim that it has, at times, inferior picture quality banned.