GetChip - false advertising?

eskbanker

DireEmblem said:

Linton said:

My point was the OP suggested that the statement was false perhaps for some mathematical or statistical reason which it isnt.  Pedantry perhaps.

It has, hopefully unintentionally left out key elements as below.

With each entry(£10), you have a 1 in 6056 chance of winning, compared to the odds of premium bonds which are at 1 in 24,473 (for each £1 entry).

It could easily be misunderstood and hence misleading in terms of a fair comparison.  To compare the odds of winning competition A vs B, you need to consider the entry requirements and compare on an equitable basis.

I think this comes down to semantics - to me (and I suspect @Linton), the word 'false' conveys 'not true' or 'factually incorrect', so the answer to "is this false advertising?" is probably 'no', in that it's factually true that a single entry in each draw has better odds of winning with Chip.

However, I believe that everyone agrees that it's unfair, misleading, unrepresentative, deceptive, selective, inequitable, and a wide range of other unsavoury adjectives!

masonic

Yes

Yes, I overlooked the terminology used and voted based on the principle that it was a deceptive statement rather than strictly untrue. The law does not make a meaningful distinction between the two.

https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertising-law/regulations-that-affect-advertising

Malthusian

Shall we be really boring and look at the dictionary?
"1. not true or correct; erroneous:a false statement.

2. uttering or declaring what is untrue:a false witness.

3. not faithful or loyal; treacherous:a false friend.

4. tending to deceive or mislead; deceptive:a false impression.

5. not genuine; counterfeit."
So "false" can mean both "untrue" (1&2) and "misleading" (4). But as Masonic points out, when it comes to advertising, the government could not be more clear that "deceptive" messages are not allowed, even if they are technically true.

eskbanker

Probably getting well into diminishing returns territory here, but yes, the word does have multiple meanings, so much is dependent on context:

Does the advertising make false claims? Objectively, no.

Does the advertising create a false impression? Undoubtedly!

And yes, as @masonic points out, the latter is ultimately what it'll be measured against by the authorities....

Linton

eskbanker said:

Probably getting well into diminishing returns territory here, but yes, the word does have multiple meanings, so much is dependent on context:

Does the advertising make false claims? Objectively, no.

Does the advertising create a false impression? Undoubtedly!

And yes, as @masonic points out, the latter is ultimately what it'll be measured against by the authorities....

A very good way to create a false impression is to base your pitch on something that is true but totally irrelevent.   Much more insidious than simply lying.