THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS Authority for Ireland (ASAI) has upheld a complaint made against Eir over the advertised price of €1 for a sports channel bundle.
The Eir.ie homepage advertised an offer on their sports channel bundle which included Sky Sports, Eir Sports and BT Sports. In a circle beside the offer, it stated that the bundle cost just €1.
The bundle did not, in fact, cost €1 in total. In order to avail of a €1 add-on deal, customers would have to purchase a broadband and TV bundle.
The word ‘buy’ was presented beside the bundle advert on the homepage. Clicking the word opened another webpage with details of all bundles.
Included in the details was the following text: “Add Sky Sports One – for €1 per month for six months, €40 per month thereafter.”
The ASAI notes that the complainant considered the advertising on the main page to be misleading as he was unable to find the real price of the offer and felt he was forced to click into the page to find out what was being offered.
In a response to the ASAI, Eir said that the details of all offers available, including the “€1 Ultimate Sport Bundle” were found in their bundle pages, which a customer would review prior to making any purchase or committing to any contact.
Eir said it was not feasible to include all product details and pricing on its homepage due to space and ease of comprehension by customers.
It said that the banner referenced by the complainant was not an advertisement in isolation, but rather formed part of their website, which had contained all pertinent offer details.
Finally, Eir said that it was not its intention to mislead customers, but rather to provide them with all relevant information and offers in a simple and easy to follow manner.
The ASAI noted that the advertising homepage was amended a number of days after the complaint was received to clarify that the bundle was €1 for six months.
The authority noted that a consumer would have to click on the ‘buy’ button in order to place an order and on doing this they would then see that to be able to purchase the sports bundle for €1, they would actually have to purchase a broadband and tv bundle.
The ASAI said:
In view of the fact that the homepage offer made no indication that the sports bundle could only be purchased as part of a broadband bundle, the [ASAI] committee considered that the advertising was in breach of Section 4.22, 5.5, 5.15 and 5.16 of the ASAI Code.
The ASAI determined that the advertisement should not reappear in its current form.
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