The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Inc. recommended that Verizon Wireless modify or discontinue its “anytime, anywhere” claim for the carrier’s “IN-Network” calling plans to “avoid potential consumer confusion and to avoid potentially conveying the inaccurate and overly broad message that Verizon Wireless subscribers could make free calls to any Verizon customer from anywhere in the nation.”
The recommendation followed a complaint filed with NAD, which is the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, by Nextel Communications Inc. that challenged the truthfulness and accuracy of claims made by Verizon Wireless in advertising its “IN-Network” calling plans on television, in print and on the carrier’s Web site. Nextel claimed that Verizon Wireless’ “IN-Network” advertising was inherently deceptive because many consumers understand the plan’s name to apply more broadly than can be substantiated, noting many consumers would assume the “IN” means Verizon Wireless’ national coverage area or its America’s Choice network.
Nextel submitted a consumer perception study with its complaint showing that nearly half of all respondents falsely assumed that all cellular calls by Verizon Wireless customers are free, subject to no restrictions, while less than 5 percent correctly inferred that the “IN-Network” calling area was less than Verizon Wireless’ America’s Choice network.
“To the extent respondents understood there to be restrictions, most only took away the message that they were restricted as to who they could call, not where they could call,” Nextel claimed.
Verizon Wireless countered that its advertising was truthful in all respects in that customers who signed up for the “IN-Network” service can place a call to any other Verizon Wireless subscriber free, so long as the caller is located within the “IN-Network” calling area as stated in the advertisements.
Verizon Wireless noted that its “IN-Network” calling area covers approximately 240 million people or roughly 82 percent of the entire U.S. population, while the America’s Choice network covers approximately 270 million people through roaming agreements. The carrier explained that the 12-percent difference in coverage was not a material difference, and its disclosures are “more than adequate to alert those consumers who might be confused between the two networks.”
While NAD recommended that Verizon Wireless modify or discontinue its “anytime, anywhere” claim, the agency determined that Verizon Wireless’ use of the brand “IN-Network” was not misleading as the carrier “has taken care to distinguish the “IN-Network” as a branded entity, with its own defined requirements and boundaries.”
Verizon Wireless said it would take NAD’s non-binding recommendations into consideration when planning future advertising.
“Verizon Wireless notes that the ‘anytime, anywhere’ communication conveys relevant consumer information because a subscriber to ‘IN’ calling is able to make a covered call anytime, to another Verizon Wireless subscriber located anywhere,” the carrier said in a statement. “In addition, Verizon Wireless believed it had provided proper qualification for the claim and had distinguished in its advertising between the location of the caller and the location of the recipient. Verizon Wireless will nevertheless take NAD’s concerns relating to this phrase into account in future advertising.”
Earlier this year, NAD recommended that T-Mobile USA Inc. limit certain claims that it provides the “best value” in the industry regarding a pair of rate plans offered by the carrier. The recommendation was initiated as part of a routine and ongoing monitoring program centered on T-Mobile USA television advertisements, and according to an NAD director, was the only review of a wireless carrier conducted by the agency.
