An advert for BT‘s fibre optic broadband service BT Infinity has been banned by regulators after the company based performance claims on old data.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints about BT‘s claim the service was eight times faster than the UK average.
In the ad, a male character is using an online dating service on his laptop and apparently instantly uploads a better picture of himself, while another flatmate buys concert tickets on a tablet.
At the end of the ad, a voice-over said: “Eight times faster fibre optic broadband. Infinity, from BT.” Meanwhile, on-screen text read: “BT Infinity. 8 x faster fibre optic broadband.”
One complainant disputed the eight times faster claim, while four people challenged whether the speed of the photo transfer and upload and the ticket-buying process in the TV ad was misleading and exaggerated the performance of BT Infinity.
A comparable website, productsandservices.bt.com, supported the claim with more detail, stating: “Infinity 2 has arrived… Eight times faster: speeds based on Infinity Option 2 average customer speed and UK average from Ofcom report, Feb 2012.”
BT insisted the claims were based on the most up-to-date information available to it, but the ASA agreed that the ad could mislead consumers.
“We concluded the ad exaggerated the performance of BT Infinity,” the watchdog said in its judgement.
