The ASA and the broadband poster

Broadband posters are a British folk art: a megabit, a from-price, a happy family, a footnote the size of a confession. They are also regulated. The Advertising Standards Authority does not make your line faster. It can make a claim harder to repeat. People who feel cheated by a 900 that was a 90 often shout at the retailer, which is correct, and never send the poster to the ASA, which is how the next household sees the same 900. Two letters. Two jobs.

Who does what

ASA: the ad. Ofcom: the provider’s behaviour, switching, compensation schemes. Ombudsman: your dispute after the provider’s process. We: a magazine that will not say Ofcom-approved.

Mixing them is how you send a bill to the ASA and a poster to the ombudsman and wait.

The usual sins

‘Up to’ as a personality, ‘fibre’ on a pair, ‘from’ that needs five extras, ‘unlimited’ with a hidden throttle, a national coverage vibe on a regional build.

Save the creative: URL, date, screenshot. Rulings need the artefact. A memory of a Tube card is a weaker artefact.

What you get

A possible upheld ruling, a change to future ads, a small public record. Not, automatically, a cheque. The cheque is the other building, with your contract in hand.

Still worth doing if the poster was a lie of the sort they police. Civic, even. Also: shop on address checks, not on Tube cards, so you need the ASA less.

A ruling is not a refund. A refund is not a ruling. Send each letter to the building that owns it.

Posters will always be optimistic. The ASA is how optimism is kept on a leash. Use it, and still shop like the leash might slip.