Orange rapped for comparing apples to pears

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 16 Jul 2008 at 09:52

Orange has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making an unfair comparison between its and BT's broadband services.

An advert for Orange's Home Max service stated that customers could "save over £190 when you switch from BT".

Orange compared its service to BT's Broadband Option 3 and Calling Plan Option 2. However, it failed to mention a series of "benefits" that customers would receive if they stayed with BT.

The ASA ruled that the free cordless phone that comes with BT's Home Hub was a significant advantage over plugging a normal handset into Orange's Livebox.

The ASA also considered the Norton AntiVirus and Norton Personal Firewall that comes with BT's package to be "more advanced" than the McAfee "privacy" software that Orange bundles.

Finally, Orange's failure to provide free Wi-Fi minutes with its packages also counted against it.

"We concluded that three of the four features outlined by BT (the BT Home Hub phone, full Norton Security suite and unlimited inclusive Wi-Fi minutes in BT Fon hotspots) were significant differences between the services that were likely to influence consumers' evaluation of the comparison and therefore should have been included in the ad," the ASA concluded.

Orange has been told to amend the ads to highlight the differences.