Vodafone speaks too quickly on mobile broadband advertisement

Mobile communications giant Vodafone has been slated by authorities for speaking too quickly on a mobile broadband advertisement.

According to a recent report a complaint against the mobile communications giant Vodafone has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority after a radio listener complained to authorities about a mobile broadband offer that was advertised on the radio recently. The advertisement included a barrage of terms and conditions that were apparently spouted out very quickly at the end of the advertisement.

The listener that made the complaint said that the words were read out so quickly that the terms and conditions were virtually impossible to hear properly. The Vodafone advert was offering “unlimited texts, calls, e-mail and mobile internet” and then went on to provide the terms and conditions of the offer, which is where the stream of words was read out very quickly, confusing the listener.

The barrage of words that was read out at the end of the advertisement included that the offer was “subject to status, availability and connection to 18-month contract. Unlimited calls to landlines or Vodafone Mobiles only. Fair-use policy, terms and 60-minute call cap applies.”

Officials from Vodafone have stated that there should be no issue, because the speed at which the words were read out was no faster than the speed at which words are read out in a vast range of other radio advertisements where the terms and conditions have to be squeezed into a very short amount of air time. In fact the company stated that its words were not “spoken any more quickly than those in other ads that needed to convey a number of points.”

However, despite this the Advertising Standards Authority said that the details of the small print were read out far too quickly, adding that “the important terms and conditions were not clearly audible and the ad could mislead listeners.”