UKNM: RE: AOL Advertising

[JR JR]

Stef said:


>Am I the only person who finds AOL's new spate of TV ads *just* *a

>little* misleading? 

>Only seen it once, but it ends with a voiceover saying "It's Free!" 

>which is clearly a lie. feeling the pressure of freeserve perhaps? 

>is this acceptable advertising?


Replete with Christmas fare, I have just seen a 10 sec cutdown of the ad 

which claims that AOL is "Number 1".


"Free" and "Number 1" are in my mind probably misleading - although i am 

sure AOL can back these claims up (and note - they would have *had* to 

to get these TV ads approved by the BACC - three years of my life were 

partly spent doing this!), I think we could all produce contradictory 

evidence to the fact that FreeServe is larger than AOL or that AOL is 

not technically free for anything post the first month trial (as Tech 

support is only free if you pay the monthly fee!!)


If you feel this issue is worthy of further debate, the correct channel 

to follow would be to contact the Advertising Standards Authority (not 

the ITC or BACC).  Their website is at http://www.asa.org.uk/ and the 

course of action would be as follows (taken from their site)


=====================

How do I complain?


----------------------------------------------------------------------


The Authority wants to deal quickly with complaints, so the more 

information that is provided, the better. Write to the ASA with the 

following information: 


the name of the advertiser 


details of when and where the advertisement appeared 


a description of what you consider to be wrong with the advertisement 


Write to:


The Advertising Standards Authority

Complaints Dept

2 Torrington Place

London WC1E 7HW



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