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ASA Upholds Complaints About Freeserve and Hello!

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint made by internet service provider AOL Europe against advertising by its rival Freeserve. The advertisement in question appeared in the national press and stated “2.8 million people choose Freeserve”. AOL felt that the statement made was misleading as the number did not represent how many subscribers Freeserve had but how many visitors its site had had in a particular month.
Freeserve produced evidence of a survey corroborating the number of visitors and said that it wanted to demonstrate the true reach of the site, rather than just the number of subscribers. The ASA decided that since the advertisement stated the benefits of becoming a Freeserve member and invited readers to become members “the Authority considered that most readers would infer that the figure was the number of subscribers to the advertiser’s service.” The advert was therefore found to be misleading and Freeserve were asked to amend it.
In another clash of rivals, Northern & Shell, publishers of OK! magazine complained about an advertisement placed in a trade publication by its rival, Hello! magazine. The advertisement highlighted OK!’s rise in circulation figures and stated “Hello! Always the best selling quality magazine for women.” The complainants said this claim implied that the magazine always outsold its competitors, which was not the case.
Hello!’s defence was to claim that in terms of attracting advertisers, its rivals were monthly titles like Cosmopolitan and Vogue, not OK!. Amongst these “quality” publications, it said its claims about sales were true. The ASA nevertheless concluded that most people would perceive Hello! and OK! to be in a similar category, and since the latter sold more copies than the former from July to December 1999, the complaint was upheld.
ASA: 020 7580 5555