The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK received a complain from a UK television viewer regarding a Satio mobile phone. The commercial showed a woman using the phone to take a picture of a hoper and share it using third-party software. The ad said “Packed with applications and more available to download” while the phone’s screen was shown displaying icons of several applications including Facebook. The complainer challenged wheter the ad was misleading because the phone did not come with the Facebook app pre-installed and he understood that it was not compatible with the Facebook application.
Sony Ericsson defended them self saying access to Facebook was integrated via links. They did not claim the level of functionality these links would allow. Because of software problem, the Facebook app had initially not been available for Satio. The problem was later resolved and a Facebook app could now be downloaded from their website.
Verdict
ASA acknowledged that installed links on the phone allowed user to access Facebook website. However, ASA understood that this was not the same as having a dedicated Facebook application. This would have offered better functionality and faster user experience.
The commercial with a Facebook logo and voice-over saying “Packed with applications and more available to download” was most likely to be understood by viewers to mean that the phone either had a Facebook app pre-installed or available for download. We noted that a software problem initially prevented the app being available and that this now have been solved. However, because the ad implied the application was either preloaded on the phone or would be available to download, and because this was not the case at the time the ad was broadcast, ASA concluded that the ad was misleading.
ASA has notified Sony Ericsson to ensure that product functionality depicted in ads was accurate at the time the ad was broadcasted.