Broadband ad crackdown hits Virgin

The Advertising Standards Authority on Wednesday upheld a complaint against a printed Virgin Media advertisement that appeared in February.

The ad formed part of the company's push on super-fast broadband services and contained the words "faster for a fiver". However, the complainant said that the small print listing the terms of the deal was too small to be legible.

The watchdog upheld the complaint, despite Virgin Media pointing out that the font size used was within acceptable guidelines.

"We considered that the size of the text, in combination with the low quality of the print, meant it was not clearly visible to a normally sighted person reading the marketing communication once, from a reasonable distance and at a reasonable speed," the ASA said in a statement. Virgin Media was told not to use the advert in its current form again.

The ruling follows a similar decision on a BT ad on 18 April. The ASA upheld four complaints — put forward by broadband rival Virgin Media — on the grounds that they could be misleading.

Both decisions follow new regulations on broadband advertising that came into effect on 1 April. Under the new rules advertisers must ensure they quote realistic 'headline' speed ranges that at least 10 percent of their customers can achieve.