A Virgin Media TV ad featuring David Tennant has been banned after rival BSkyB complained about the use of a Sky Sports football clip.
The TV campaign featured the former Doctor Who and Broadchurch actor promoting Virgin Media’s Big Kahuna Bundle.
Virgin Media’s ad pushed its “quad play” package of products – including TV, superfast broadband, mobile and landline – claiming it was significantly cheaper than a comparable bundle from BSkyB.
In the ad Tennant was seen with a large wall-mounted TV screen behind him that showed a football match on Sky Sports.
BSkyB complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that the TV ad misleadingly implied that Sky Sports was included in the £30-a-month price Virgin Media advertised.
A member of the public also complained that the ad misleadingly implied line rental was included.
Virgin Media said there was on-screen text saying that Sky Sports was not included in the price advertised, and it was on screen for “nearly twice as long” as the channel’s logo appeared.
The ASA disagreed and said the text was not very noticeable, unlike the “prominent display” of the Sky match. It concluded that it misleadingly implied it was included in the cost.
The ASA also upheld BSkyB’s two other complaints saying that the £49.95 installation fee was also not given “sufficient prominence”, and that it also misleadingly implied that a £15.99 a month line rental was included.
“The ads must not appear again in their current form,” said the ASA. “We told Virgin Media to ensure that ads were not likely to mislead consumers in future and to ensure that material information was given sufficient prominence.”
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”.
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.
