Context
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published a webpage regarding the rise year on year of financial ads referred to the ASA. ASA wants firms to ensure that their ads on financial products is right. Ads for products regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will generally fall under the FCA’s remit. Exceptions would be matters of harm and offence, promotions and general green claims, which would be for the ASA. Broadcast ads for all financial products, regulated by the FCA or not, would fall under the ASA’s remit.
Key points to note and next actions
Firms should be considering the following when dealing with financial related ads;
- Don’t take advantage of consumers’ inexperience – ads should be presented in such a way that they can be easily understood by the audience they are being presented to. Marketers should not exploit the inexperience or trust of consumers.
- Make it clear, fair and not misleading – Financial ads should present clearly the contract being offered to consumers. They should also set out any relevant limitation, expense, penalty and the terms of withdrawal. If the ad is a general one or short on time or space, free material must be accessible to consumers before a contract is entered into.
- Experience or performance is not a guide to the future – Using examples of past experience or performance in ads is acceptable. However, ads that do should also include information that states the examples do not necessarily mean that similar results or outcomes will always be the same. Examples of past experience or performance that are used must be representative.