The ASA upheld complaints from two consumers who were charged after accepting an online offer from Boltblue International Ltd for free ringtones or graphics. The customers complained that the online promotion did not make it clear that they had to join a subscription service in order to access the free downloads.
According to the ASA, the ad contained text inside a red button in the top left corner of the web page referring to "free ringtone, wallpaper or logo". In the centre of the page was a rectangular text box stating, "Get your FREE mobile content here. Choose any tone, wallpaper, logo or picture message ... First download FREE, then select up to 6 content items and send up to 60 SMS for 300p."
Finally, next to a window in the middle of the text box, the ad urged, "Just enter your mobile number".
Boltblue told the watchdog that the promotion had been amended to add an asterisk to the word “Free”, leading to an explanation that customers had to join the subscription service in order to receive the free download.
This, said Boltblue, was in line with a new code of practice introduced by the UK’s mobile phone operators in August.
In particular, the code requires that advertisers prominently display a standard message that includes details of service charges and billing frequency within any form of advertising for a subscription text service.
This code was agreed in the wake of numerous complaints from consumers who had responded to adverts without realising the ads were for a subscription service – leading to a nasty surprise when they received their mobile bills.
The issue was highlighted during the summer by complaints over the Crazy Frog ringtone, which many consumers bought at a cost of what they thought was £3, only to find that they had unwittingly signed up for a subscription service costing £3 per week.
The ASA welcomed Boltblue’s amendment, but held that the original advert was misleading and breached the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code. The firm was warned to seek help from the CAP Copy Advice team in future.