A poster outside Paddington station was headlined “Great Western Railway-the railway belongs to the region it serves.” Four complainants to the ASA alleged this misleadingly implied GWR was publicly owned. What was the ASA’s decision? Chloe Deng reports.
Online ads for “ECO acupressure mats” claimed they “helped to relieve stress, reduce headache and back pain and improve circulation.” On what basis could the ASA have jurisdiction over a Latvian website? Daisy Jones reports.
ICO publishes WiFi location analytics guidance Following concerns about transparency, the UK data regulator has issued recommendations for WiFi network operators to follow to ensure the compliant collection and use of personal data from mobile device users. Eleanor Locke reports
Argos claimed a hairstraightener “was £64.99 [now] £32.49 half price”. Victoria Plum offered a basin unit for “£199 was £299 you save £100.” The ASA ignored the official Pricing Practices Guide when adjudicating on both claims. Chloe Dumoulin-Richet reports.
Prodial After receiving over 1000 complaints of automated recorded message calls promoting payment protection insurance claims and an investigation revealing a “staggering” 46 million non-compliant calls, the Information Commissioner’s Office has imposed a record fine. Thomas Spanyol reports
Sainsbury’s challenges Tesco “Never pay more for your branded shop” campaign CAP’s copy team had cleared it, but was Tesco’s offer to refund the difference if a basket of non “own brand” products was cheaper at Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s misleading? Chloe Deng reports
“A&E is for life-threatening emergencies only” said a poster and website published by Brent Clinical Commissioning Group. Brent Patient Voice complained to the ASA that this was misleading and potentially harmful. Jude King reports.
The ink is almost dry on the long-awaited General Data Protection Regulation. What are the likely key impacts for UK marketers and adtech service providers? Catch Nick Johnson and Stephen Groom’s slides from a recent breakfast briefing here.
Stopping unjustified treatment of customers based on residence or nationality in terms of access and price is amongst key targets of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy. Daisy Jones reports on the UK government’s response to the Commission’s geo-blocking consultation.
Following concerns as to whether advantage was being taken of vulnerable consumers, the two leading UK insurance industry bodies have published a new Code of Practice on the treatment of vulnerable consumers on policy renewal. Chloe Dumoulin-Richet reports.
Far from being just about privacy notices, the revised code of practice encourages taking a “blended approach” and using privacy-enhancing technologies to communicate privacy information. The code is developed with “compliance with the GDPR in mind”. Georgina Graham reports.
Research commissioned by Ofcom and the ASA into consumer understanding of broadband price advertising has some interesting findings, whilst Ofcom has published a “Voluntary Business Broadband Speeds Code of Practice.” Ben Dunham reports.
