Following her criticism of the choice of short term loan company Wonga.com as TfL's sponsor for this year free New Year's Eve travel deal, Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy is wondering if the ads for Wonga now appearing in Underground stations might be in breach of advertising rules. If so, it won't be the first time Wonga has erred in this way. Complaints by 60 viewers about a Wonga TV ad shown earlier this year were upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority, which said the ad trivialised the nature of the service being offered and didn't display information about a typical Average Percentage Rate prominently enough. Wonga admitted the second of these charges.
Might they be in the wrong again? I haven't yet seen any of the Wonga Tube ads in real life but I'm assured - by Creasy, commenter jonnyboy122 and others - that they contain no mention at all of APR, not even in the small print at the bottom. Creasy has spoken to the ASA, which has told her it might be a matter for the Office of Fair Trading. With everyone winding down for Christmas Creasy isn't sure she'll get the clarification she requires in time for any action to be taken, but she's working on it. Should a complaint be upheld you can bet TfL and, by implication, the Mayor will catch flack for failing to be more careful about accepting the ads. Though he defended the Wonga deal, Boris advised Londoners to "to always be careful if borrowing money and to be particularly cautious of punitive interest rates." Does the exercise of such caution become more or less likely if a loan company's advertising material doesn't tell people what its interest rates are?
TfL is getting back to me on this and I will update a.s.a.p. Until then I can provide a partial answer to a question from zinoviev, commenting here about the amount of sponsorship money needed to support New Year's Eve travel. TfL says it cannot give a precise figure, but that it is "several hundred thousand pounds." They also told me that sponsors are selected "on the value of support proposed" - which means how much money they offer - and that "due to the economic recession fewer organisations have expressed interest in sponsoring free travel at New Year's Eve in recent years." Was it a case of Wonga or nothing?
Update, 18:20 TfL has issued a statement:
Wonga.com's advertisements posted on the London Underground do not contravene Transport for London's (TfL) Advertising Policy or advertising regulations
Wonga too has been in touch too to say it believes the ads are fully compliant with all relevant regulations because they don't contain the elements that would require a typical APR to be shown.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davehillblog/2010/dec/23/do-wonga-london-tube-ads-break-rules
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