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Who should I contact should I feel I've been
a victim of Misleading advertising?
Who you contact depends on where you saw or heard the advert. If
you saw the advert on television, then you need to contact the Independent
Television Commission (ITC). If you heard it on the radio, you would
contact the Radio Authority (RA). Finally, should you have seen
the advert in or on a non-broadcast medium, you should got to the
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA covers print adverts, outdoor posters, internet adverts
(including banner ads and pop-ups), direct mail brochures and leaflets,
commercial emails, cinema advertisements and all kinds of sales
promotions.
Whoever you are complaining to, you should make it in writing.
It is important that there is no misunderstanding about the advert
about which you are complaining or the reasons for your complaint.
You aren’t restricted to letter writing though, all three
organizations provide online forms. Make sure you include your name
and address with your complaint, so you can be kept informed of
its progress.
If you want to complain about broadcast advertising, you need to
provide them with certain information. They must know the date and
time of the ad, or the teletext page if relevant, and obviously
the name of the TV channel or radio programme and programme you
were watching. You must make it clear which product the advert was
talking about. Finally, make the nature of your complaint very clear.
You must also make the nature of your complaint and the name of
the product clear when you are complaining about non-broadcast ads
as well. Send in a copy of the ad, stating where you saw it and
when it appeared.
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When the relevant authority receives your complaint, they will
investigate it and then they will raise the issue with the relevant
media company, assuming they feel there is a case to answer. If
it is decided that a breach of standards has occurred, the company
could be ordered to make the necessary changes in order to prevent
a repetition of the problem.
If the breach is found to be persistent or more serious, then the
complaint-handling organization can issue a formal warning to the
offending company. In the most serious cases, the company may have
to print, publish or broadcast an apology and a correction. In extreme
circumstances, the media company could be fined, or in the case
of broadcasting companies, shorten or even withdraw their licences.
You should also think about the fact that an isolated service problem
doesn’t make an advert misleading. This is not a way of dealing
with disputes between a company and their customers. Unless the
company makes claims about service and patently can’t live
up to them, it’s not an advertising complaint.
Something to think about is if you are complaining about the service
from an advertiser. An isolated service problem does not make an
advertisement misleading in itself. Complaints commissions cannot
intervene in a dispute between a company and a customer
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