Radio advert misled by putting financial terms first, says ad watchdog

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated a complaint over a radio ad for Carcraft. The company's advert offered second-hand cars and finance deals that it claimed could bring the cost of a car to under £20 a week in debt repayments.

The terms of financing deals must be included in such ads and are usually included at the end, often read more quickly and sometimes by a different actor in a more serious tone to the rest of the ad.

Carcraft's advert opened with the financing terms, read in a serious tone. It continued with a different actor talking about the cars and the deals available.

A listener complained that the way the ad reversed the normal presentation of such information was confusing and misleading, and said that it was unclear whether the finance terms referred to this advert or the one that preceded it.

The ASA said that the legally-required finance information was present and that it was clearly audible, but said that listeners might not understand that the ad and the finance terms were connected.

"The link between the finance details and the remainder of this ad might not be instantly recognised, partly because the voice-over between the two sections differed in tone; the finance details were spoken in a businesslike way, whereas the rest of the ad was more lighthearted, and the two were spoken by different voices," said its ruling.

"In addition, no reference was made to Carcraft at the start of the ad, when the finance details were spoken, to indicate to listeners that the two parts of the ad were connected," it said. "We considered, therefore, that listeners were unlikely to realise that the finance details were connected to the subsequent material."

Carcraft had sought and gained the approval of the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre, the body funded by commercial radio stations to clear adverts as being appropriate for broadcast. It said that it was clear that the finance terms referred to the cars advertised by Carcraft.

The ASA disagreed.

"We noted that the second part of the ad claimed 'Cars from under £20 a week ... Just £99 or your old car as deposit'.  We considered, therefore, that the finance details (which included the typical APR, example cash price, monthly repayments and admin fee) were important information for listeners in deciding whether to partake of the offer," it said. "We concluded that it was not clear that the finance details related to the Carcraft offer of a car for under £20 a week and the ad was misleading."