Cell C has to remove “4Gs” from its new advertising campaign, after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the term is misleading and dishonest.
MTN, Vodacom and several consumers laid complaints against Cell C's advertising campaign, which includes a logo reflecting “4Gs” and the claim it is building the first 4Gs network in the Southern Hemisphere. The complaints stated that the claims are misleading, since consumers will mistake it to be a reference to the “4G” standard of network.
”This is especially so as the 's' in '4Gs' is extremely small,” says the ASA.
It adds that consumers have become accustomed to seeing the term “3G” in connection with broadband-capable devices in SA, which always denotes speed and connectivity capability.
“While 4G devices are not impossible, they are yet to be perfected and rolled out into the market, both internationally and locally. As such, the respondent is misusing the technical understanding of the term '4G' and its new '4Gs' logo to create the appearance that it offers a competitive advantage that it does not possess.”
WWW Strategy MD Steven Ambrose says Cell C was far behind MTN and Vodacom, and needed something bold to differentiate its offering from the competition.
“In light of all the issues around the use of the term broadband and previous rulings from the ASA, Cell C decided to still proceed with the 4G branding, and simply added the 's' to the 4G brand. This was still rather opportunistic. I am certain they expected some backlash.”
Cell C intends to appeal the ASA's ruling, saying it is disappointed the authority did not appear to take into account its full and extensive responses to the Vodacom and MTN complaints.
CEO Lars Reichelt says the operator will appeal the ruling because it believes corporate bullying is at play.
“It is Cell C's view that MTN and Vodacom lodged these complaints in an attempt to distract Cell C, which has recently established a major competitive advantage in the marketplace. The network Cell C has already rolled out...is technologically superior, the speeds are demonstrably and consistently higher, the service experience is better with lower latency, and the customer experience in our stores is distinctly fresh and overall perceived as better by customers.
“We use the term '4GS' to describe not only our new network, but our overall value proposition. We are not claiming to have a 4G network. Our view is that the public understands very well that Cell C is now the speed and price leader in SA."
Start over
Attorneys Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs submitted initial arguments on behalf of Cell C.
Their argument is that the “4Gs” logo is not misleading as it stands for “4 Great Service” and “4 Great Speed” as a marketing term and not a technical one.
Not one of the advertisements submitted by any of the complainants qualifies the meaning of the logo, according to the ASA. Cell C has a notice on its Web site indicating the “4Gs” means “4 great speed & 4 great service”, but the ASA says this is of no consequence to either the print or television advertising. “It is trite that advertising appearing in one medium cannot be relied on to clear up ambiguity created in another.”
The ASA says this means the unqualified and ambiguous “4Gs” is misleading.
The ASA also rejected substantiation submitted by Cell C to prove its claims of building a 4Gs network that is apparently the first and most advanced in the Southern Hemisphere.
It says the reports submitted were general and not product-specific and did not directly address these advertised claims.
The ASA concluded the claims have not been proven and are in breach of the clause in the Code of Advertising Practice that deals with substantiation.
These findings lead to the ruling that the claims, as well as the term 4Gs, must be removed from all advertising immediately and may not be used again in their current format in future.
Ambrose says the operator should “go back to the drawing board, and come up with a more honest, simple, and truthful value proposition, which will in all probability serve them better than the current cool, but misleading, marketing speak of their current 4Gs branding”.
Cell C's new logo has also been problematic, being provisionally rejected by the Registrar of Trademarks.
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