AT&T Rebuked Over 'Misleading' Ad Showing Satellite Phone Calling It Doesn't Offer Yet (arstechnica.com) 12
"AT&T has been told to stop running ads that claim the carrier is already offering cellular coverage from space," reports Ars Technica:
AT&T intends to offer Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) and has a deal with AST SpaceMobile, a Starlink competitor that plans a smartphone service from low-Earth-orbit satellites. But AST SpaceMobile's first batch of five satellites isn't scheduled to launch until September.
T-Mobile was annoyed by AT&T running an ad indicating that its satellite-to-cellular service was already available, and filed a challenge with the advertising industry's self-regulatory system run by BBB National Programs. The BBB National Advertising Division (NAD) ruled against AT&T last month and the carrier appealed to the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), which has now also ruled against AT&T...
AT&T, which is also famous for renaming its 4G service "5GE," reluctantly agreed to comply with the recommendation and released a new version of the satellite-calling commercial with more specific disclaimers.
The 30-second ad — titled "Epic Bad Golf Day" — featured Ben Stiller golfing chasing a badly-hit golf ball all the way into the desert (accompanied by the Pixies' song "Where is My Mind").
But according to the article, T-Mobile filed an official complaint with the advertising review board that "the use of humor does not shield an advertiser from its obligation to ensure that claims are truthful and non-misleading." The ad originally included small text that described the depicted satellite call as a "demonstration of evolving technology." The text was changed this week to say that "satellite calling is not currently available...."
The original version also had text that said, "the future of help is an AT&T satellite call away." The NARB concluded that this "statement can be interpreted reasonably as stating that 'future' technology has now arrived... In the updated version of the ad, AT&T changed the text to say that "the future of help will be an AT&T satellite call away."
T-Mobile was annoyed by AT&T running an ad indicating that its satellite-to-cellular service was already available, and filed a challenge with the advertising industry's self-regulatory system run by BBB National Programs. The BBB National Advertising Division (NAD) ruled against AT&T last month and the carrier appealed to the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), which has now also ruled against AT&T...
AT&T, which is also famous for renaming its 4G service "5GE," reluctantly agreed to comply with the recommendation and released a new version of the satellite-calling commercial with more specific disclaimers.
The 30-second ad — titled "Epic Bad Golf Day" — featured Ben Stiller golfing chasing a badly-hit golf ball all the way into the desert (accompanied by the Pixies' song "Where is My Mind").
But according to the article, T-Mobile filed an official complaint with the advertising review board that "the use of humor does not shield an advertiser from its obligation to ensure that claims are truthful and non-misleading." The ad originally included small text that described the depicted satellite call as a "demonstration of evolving technology." The text was changed this week to say that "satellite calling is not currently available...."
The original version also had text that said, "the future of help is an AT&T satellite call away." The NARB concluded that this "statement can be interpreted reasonably as stating that 'future' technology has now arrived... In the updated version of the ad, AT&T changed the text to say that "the future of help will be an AT&T satellite call away."
Insufficient. (Score:5, Interesting)
Failing to slap AT&T with a large fine is just letting them get away with it.
Re:Insufficient. (Score:4, Informative)
It's AT&T... were you really expecting them to be honest about their network? They also told their customers that they had "4G" network that was really was more like an 3G+ network in the early 2010's, and then they had a fake 5G "evolution" network that was really 4G in 2020.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
It's AT&T... were you really expecting them to be honest about their network? They also told their customers that they had "4G" network that was really was more like an 3G+ network in the early 2010's, and then they had a fake 5G "evolution" network that was really 4G in 2020.
Ya, but *this* phone uses 9G technology, so ... :-)
This is why I block all ads (Score:4, Interesting)
They are mostly bullshit in disguise.
Re: (Score:2)
They are mostly bullshit in disguise.
Disguise?
Re: (Score:2)
Yes: "to obscure the existence or true state or character of : conceal"
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The ad could have easily been cleverly misleading without the blatant lie. Why did they need to lie?
Typical AT&T marketing - "Over-Promise and Under-Deliver"
In other words, AT&T can't help itself cuz it's in their DNA.
Hard to believe UNIX came out of that. (Score:2)