The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated a
complaint over a radio ad for Carcraft. The company's advert
offered second-hand cars and finance deals that it claimed could
bring the cost of a car to under £20 a week in debt repayments.
The terms of financing deals must be included in such ads and
are usually included at the end, often read more quickly and
sometimes by a different actor in a more serious tone to the rest
of the ad.
Carcraft's advert opened with the financing terms, read in a
serious tone. It continued with a different actor talking about the
cars and the deals available.
A listener complained that the way the ad reversed the normal
presentation of such information was confusing and misleading, and
said that it was unclear whether the finance terms referred to this
advert or the one that preceded it.
The ASA said that the legally-required finance information was
present and that it was clearly audible, but said that listeners
might not understand that the ad and the finance terms were
connected.
"The link between the finance details and the remainder of this
ad might not be instantly recognised, partly because the voice-over
between the two sections differed in tone; the finance details were
spoken in a businesslike way, whereas the rest of the ad was more
lighthearted, and the two were spoken by different voices," said
its ruling.
"In addition, no reference was made to Carcraft at the start of
the ad, when the finance details were spoken, to indicate to
listeners that the two parts of the ad were connected," it said.
"We considered, therefore, that listeners were unlikely to realise
that the finance details were connected to the subsequent
material."
Carcraft had sought and gained the approval of the Radio
Advertising Clearance Centre, the body funded by commercial radio
stations to clear adverts as being appropriate for broadcast. It
said that it was clear that the finance terms referred to the cars
advertised by Carcraft.
The ASA disagreed.
"We noted that the second part of the ad claimed 'Cars from
under £20 a week ... Just £99 or your old car as deposit'. We
considered, therefore, that the finance details (which included the
typical APR, example cash price, monthly repayments and admin fee)
were important information for listeners in deciding whether to
partake of the offer," it said. "We concluded that it was not clear
that the finance details related to the Carcraft offer of a car for
under £20 a week and the ad was misleading."
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