The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs determined that comparative savings claims made by Comcast Cable Communications, LLC about its Xfinity Mobile 5G service plan would not be misleading when compared with the cheapest two Ultra Wideband 5G plans by Verizon Communications, Inc., provided that disclosures were adequate. Therefore, NAD recommended that Comcast modify the advertising to clearly and conspicuously disclose the material differences between the services, and to avoid conveying the message that consumers can obtain massive savings by switching to Xfinity Internet.
In this case, Verizon challenged claims made by Comcast’s comparison of different 5G plans – its single 5G plan vs. two of Verizon’s mid-tier plans and NAD assessed whether such claims are misleading. NAD has long held that although an advertiser may choose the object of comparison when making price comparisons, it is well-established that such apples-to-oranges comparisons must:
Disclose the basis of comparison,
Avoid implying that a competitor does not have a more similar product or service, and
Disclose any material differences between the compared products.
The express and implied claims at issue, which appeared in Comcast’s “Comparisons” television commercial, included:
Express Claims
Xfinity Mobile is at most “half the price of Verizon – so you have more money for more stuff.”
Consumers can “switch to Xfinity Mobile for half the price of Verizon.”
Xfinity Mobile customers can get “One line of unlimited data for half the price of Verizon.”
NAD determined that Comcast’s choice to compare its plan to Verizon’s cheapest 5G plans that offer Ultra Wideband – the same speeds offered by Xfinity – when properly disclosed is appropriate because they are the cheapest plans from Verizon with speeds most equivalent to Xfinity Mobile.
In addition to disclosing the basis of comparison, an advertiser must disclose material differences between the services. NAD has found that when comparing telecommunication service plans, material differences that must be disclosed include data usage thresholds, the requirement to pay for a bundled internet service or product, and the inclusion of an autopay discount – each of which was present in this case.