Durban - Cellphone giant MTN has been wrapped over the knuckles over an advert pertaining to a data deal.
Consumer Grey Holmes took his complaint to the Advertising Regulatory Board and won.
The Directorate of the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) ordered that MTN immediately withdraw the advert in question.
In his complaint, Holmes referred to an advertisement that appeared in the MTN store in Greenstone Shopping Centre which read “10gig of data for R99”.
Holmes, in his complaint, said the advertisement was misleading because the offer did not stipulate that it was an offer for 5GB Anytime Data and 5GB Night Express Data.
He said the data was advertised as 10GBs, it was assumed that it was any time data.
In its response MTN said it was clear in the terms and conditions which it mentioned in the advertisement and which were fully set out on the website.
It further argued that any customer who purchased 10GB of data as advertised would receive all 10GBs of data, however certain data (ie the Night Express Data) may only be used during certain times of the day.
In its ruling, the ARB said while space may be a problem in adverts, advertisers cannot use the terms and conditions to fix a misleading impression which had already been created in an advertisement.
“Advertisers may only elaborate and give further information in the terms and conditions, or include information that does not materially change anything about the offer made in the advertisement.”
In citing an example, the directorate ruled that MTN could have had an asterisk next to the “10GB” with a corresponding asterisk at the bottom of the advertisement which states “Split between day and night data. T&Cs apply” and then detail the actual split of the day and night data in the T&Cs.
MTN was asked to remove the advert everywhere it appeared.
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