BT’s Ryan Reynolds Broadband TV Adverts Banned for Misleading WiFi Claims

ISPs Sky Broadband, Virgin Media and TalkTalk have succeeded in getting the Advertising Standards Agency to ban several adverts for BT’s Infinity SmartHub broadband router, which made “misleading” claims to offer the “UK’s most powerful wi-fi signal” and “better wi-fi coverage“.

The TV advert itself, which featured film actor Ryan Reynolds extolling the virtues of BT’s new SmartHub broadband router before later hanging on to the bottom of a helicopter as it took off (see video here), made several claims about how the device offered exceptional wi-fi coverage and signal strength. The claims were later repeated in a YouTube, radio and web-page advert.

Overall more than 60 people and three rival ISPs questioned whether BT’s Wi-Fi claims could be substantiated. 

In response BT highlighted some of the testing that had been conducted (example) as support for their promotion, which compared the device with routers from several major rivals, and they added that the claims “related only to the capabilities of the router, rather than to the overall broadband speed.”

However, in a lengthy response, the ASA ruled that the adverts were still “misleading” and banned them because BT had only compared their SmartHub against routers from major rivals and not the market as a whole.

ASA Ruling (REF: A16-347421)

BT had not tested hubs from all the major broadband providers in the ‘real homes’ tests. However, because the tests performed in laboratory conditions were suitably robust, we considered that it was sufficient for BT to test only the three top-performing hubs in order to demonstrate that the same results could be achieved in a representative real home setting.

We therefore considered the evidence was sufficient to demonstrate that the BT Smart Hub had the UK’s most powerful wi-fi signal compared to major broadband providers. However, it was not sufficient to substantiate the claim as it would be understood by consumers, as a comparison with the whole market.

In conclusion, consumers would understand the ads to mean that the BT Smart Hub provided a stronger signal – that is, one that could reach a greater distance within users’ homes – than routers from any other broadband provider. We acknowledged that the evidence substantiated that the Smart Hub’s signal reached a greater distance than routers from other major broadband providers. However, we did not consider the qualifications that the claims only related to a comparison to major broadband providers was sufficiently prominent, and BT had not provided evidence in relation to the whole market. For those reasons we concluded that the claims “UK’s most powerful wi-fi signal” and “Our hub gives you better wi-fi coverage” were misleading.

As usual the ASA gave BT a slap on the wrist and told them not to repeat the claims again in their current form, at least not without first making “the basis of comparative claims clear in order to avoid giving a misleading impression to consumers.” Typically the advert has by now already run most of its course and so the ban will have little tangible impact.

We should point out that a third complaint was also lodged against some of the specific coverage distances that had been referenced in the adverts and this was NOT upheld (e.g. the actors in the helicopter asked Reynolds if he had wi-fi at 150 meters, then at 200 meters, and he stated that he had). On this point the ASA ruled that BT’s testing had fairly “substantiated that it was possible to obtain a wi-fi signal at 200 meters from the hub.“