MTN adverts 'misleading'

SA's second cellphone operator has had to change the wording on two of its Web site advertisements, following complaints that they were “misleading”.

MTN last week undertook to amend two advertisements featured on www.mtn.co.za, following complaints lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority of SA (ASA) by two respective consumers.

One consumer's objection was to MTN's Samsung Galaxy Tab promotion, featuring an image of the device and stating, inter alia, “Samsung Galaxy TAB 10.1 (P7500)...T20 Dual Core 1GHz, 8GB RAM”. The complainant asserted that no Galaxy Tab model has “8GB RAM” as claimed. “They all contain 1GB of RAM,” he pointed out.

MTN subsequently apologised for the confusion and said all advertising going forward would remove the word “RAM” in favour of “storage”, the correct technical terminology.

The ASA said MTN's undertaking to withdraw the terminology the complainant found “objectionable” would be accepted “without considering the merits of the matter” in line with the body's established principles. “This undertaking is accepted on condition that the advertising is withdrawn in its current format... and is not used again in future.”

Another consumer complaint involved the breakdown of the operator's roaming tariffs. The Web page contains a table that represents the relevant charges for local and international calls, SMSes and Internet use.

According to the complainant, the table lists tariffs as fixed rand amounts (for example, R5 for calls within Africa), “however [MTN] only provides this service at a rate per minute (R5 per minute for calls within Africa)”. He said this was misleading as it implies that there is a fixed charge of R5 per call, regardless of the duration.

MTN argued that it could reasonably be inferred that the amount is a per minute charge. “Assuming that such a rate is a flat rate irrespective of the duration of the call is simply unreasonable and inconsistent with any service offering of this nature.” The company added that this was the first complaint of this nature that it had received, “which in itself indicates that people correctly interpret the material”.

MTN added the material complained of pertained to terms and conditions for international roaming and “did not purport to amount to any form of commercial advertising”. However, to avert confusion, MTN agreed to amend the Web site so the rates stipulated are clearly reflected on a per minute basis.

The undertaking by MTN, again, precludes any further action on the part of the ASA, despite what the authority pointed out were “interesting points pertaining to the likelihood (or lack thereof) of people interpreting this as a flat rate, and whether or not the material constitutes 'advertising'”.