Saturday, 23 January 2010
Dishonest Advetising
There is a lot of material about misleading advertising on the Let's Fix Britain website. (By the way, to sign my petition at number 10, please go here). Currently, I'm trying to make very important changes to normality in this area, because I'm bringing a test case with the authorities.
It concerns the TalklTalk ads which boast a phone and broadband service for £6.49 (now £6.99) per month. That's what the narrator says, and that's what the big bright moving graphics say, but - as is so often the case, the small print contradicts these high profile claims. That is counter to the guidelines, which say that no low-visibility textual screen addition can contradict the more dominant claims made elsewhere in the ad. I took this to OFCOM, who ducked the issue, so I took it to my MP - Patrick Hall. He wrote to the head of OFCOM as well as the head of TalkTalk. No progress - I've sent two reminders to Patrick Hall and it's been more than six weeks since nothing was done about it. Patrick's secretary says he needs time to think about it. SIX WEEKS?
More likely, it seems to me, Patrick is delaying until the advert disappears from TV of its own accord, then nothing risky or - well - useful - will have been done. Well, we can't tamper with the good ole British Status Stinking Quo, can we?
If you'd like to support cleaning up UK TYV advertising just a little bit, then please at least vote on the petition, and perhaps make a small donation to LFB.
It concerns the TalklTalk ads which boast a phone and broadband service for £6.49 (now £6.99) per month. That's what the narrator says, and that's what the big bright moving graphics say, but - as is so often the case, the small print contradicts these high profile claims. That is counter to the guidelines, which say that no low-visibility textual screen addition can contradict the more dominant claims made elsewhere in the ad. I took this to OFCOM, who ducked the issue, so I took it to my MP - Patrick Hall. He wrote to the head of OFCOM as well as the head of TalkTalk. No progress - I've sent two reminders to Patrick Hall and it's been more than six weeks since nothing was done about it. Patrick's secretary says he needs time to think about it. SIX WEEKS?
More likely, it seems to me, Patrick is delaying until the advert disappears from TV of its own accord, then nothing risky or - well - useful - will have been done. Well, we can't tamper with the good ole British Status Stinking Quo, can we?
If you'd like to support cleaning up UK TYV advertising just a little bit, then please at least vote on the petition, and perhaps make a small donation to LFB.
# posted by Chris Wesley @ 17:43 
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