Bulldog thumped for misleading boxing ad

Time to throw in the towel?

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 20th July 2005 09:21 GMT

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Bulldog - the broadband company owned by telecoms giant Cable & Wireless that is facing growing discontent among customers - has received yet another bloody nose from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

This time the ad watchdog ruled that the ISP failed to reveal service restrictions for its broadband service when it ran a radio ad featuring a make-believe boxing match.

A voiceover announced: "In the red corner we have standard broadband and in the blue corner we have Bulldog 4 Meg heavyweight broadband. Seconds out, round one."

A second voice said: "Heavyweight Bulldog is straight in there, no waiting around. Standard Broadband doesn't stand a chance."

A listened complained that the £10.50 a month service was limited to only eight hours online time (after which you had to buy additional time online) and believed this should have been made clear in the ad.

The ASA agreed.

"Although we recognised that the advertisement did not imply it was an unlimited service, we considered a time-based limitation of only eight hours online usage a month, plus the additional charges of £1.50 per hour after the initial eight hours, were significant conditions which should have been made clear in the advertisement.

"We further believed it was unfair to compare the advertisers' 4 Meg broadband service to other standard broadband services without stating those conditions," said the ASA today.®