A complaint over an advertisement for Age UK Hearing Aids, which claimed it gave a misleading impression that the product was supplied by the charity and not its commercial partners, has not been upheld by the advertising regulator.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the advert, which was seen by the complainant in March 2016, was not in breach. The advert for Age UK Hearing Aids showed animated words entering a man’s ear, and a web address, telephone number and the Age UK logo were shown along the bottom of the screen.
The complainant had challenged whether the advert gave the misleading impression that the hearing aids were supplied by the charity Age UK, rather than by one of its commercial partners.
In response, Age UK said that Age UK Hearing Aids was a partnership between AGE UK Trading CIC and UK Hearing Care Management Services Ltd (UK Hearing Care). They stated that "every customer who enquired about the service received a consumer guide, which explained in full the relationship between UK Hearing Care and Age UK”.
All materials provided to customers featured the logos of both organisations and stated that UK Hearing Care was working in association with Age UK.
Age UK said that the advert had been aired since 2014 and had only been subject to one complaint. However, in response to the complaint, it said that it would withdraw the advert. It also said that it had “taken action to revise the ad in order to underline the nature of the relationship between Age UK and UK Hearing Care”.
Ian Foy, managing director at Age UK Trading CIC, said: “We were recently made aware of a complaint regarding an Age UK Hearing Aid advert, challenging its clarity.
“We are pleased that after an investigation by the ASA the complaint was not upheld.
“Nonetheless, we believe we can never be too transparent about our trading activities and so we are actively looking at whether there is any more we can do to ensure that every one of our adverts is always crystal clear. In particular, it is really important to us that every customer of our trading arm knows who they have bought from, that any surplus is then gifted to our charity, and how this then benefits older people in need.”
Age UK’s relationship with its commercial partners came under scrutiny earlier this year after concerns over the charity’s relationship with energy firm E.On were raised. Age UK suspended an energy deal it recommended to pensioners, after a Sun investigation claimed it led supporters to overpay for gas and electricity.
The Charity Commission had told Age UK that participation in the energy market posed “a significant risk”, and said that it should look at whether continued involvement was in the charity’s best interest.
ASA ruling on Postcode Lottery
The ASA has also ruled that five complaints made against the Postcode Lottery, which claimed that its use of a man who appeared to be a priest or vicar encouraging viewers to take part in the lottery featured in an advert was irresponsible, were not to be upheld.
The regulator said it “acknowledged that the man was speaking as someone who had won a prize and saw no reason why he should not do that”.
It said: “We acknowledged that the man's testimonial could act as an additional encouragement for viewers to take part in the lottery and that some viewers might find such encouragement distasteful, particularly when voiced by someone who appeared to be a priest or vicar. However, we considered the ad did not do so in a way that was irresponsible. Because of that, we concluded that the ad did not breach the code.”
A Postcode Lottery spokesman said that the organisation welcomed the ruling.
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