Controversial Virgin Media ads get ASA approval

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that Virgin Media’s controversial advertisements claiming its broadband is “officially the fastest and most reliable” do not break the rules.

The controversial posters and press ads were headed “Truth, Lies and Broadband”. Radio, national press and billboard advertisements attracted 22 complaints to the ASA, and the complainants included Sky and TalkTalk.

The campaign also made an issue of Virgin’s fibre optic cable compared with competitors’ copper wire. The advertisements claimed that cable broadband delivered via a fibre optic cable is officially the fastest and most reliable available.

Sky claimed that the advertisements may give the misleading impression that cable broadband speeds would never slow down, and that Virgin Media customers would always be able to achieve consistent broadband speeds.

Virgin has welcomed the ASA’s decision which is the latest in a series of rows between it and Sky over comparative advertising.

A spokesman for Virgin said: “We feel it is important for consumers to understand that whilst we offer both cable and ADSL broadband, our unique cable network offers the best performing broadband speeds, regardless of where a person lives from the exchange.

“We continue to offer our customers the best broadband service and speeds and have recently announced plans to upgrade our 4Mb customers to a 10Mb service, free of charge, as well as aiming to have our new 50Mb service available to over 9m homes by the end of the year.”

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