NAD finds flaws in AT&T Mobility commercials: Carrier “respectfully disagrees”

AT&T Mobility is ignoring recommendations from the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus to modify or discontinue two of its “More Bars in More Places” TV commercials. Verizon Wireless challenged the ads and brought them to NAD’s attention, saying that AT&T Mobility was claiming that its network performance, beyond geographic coverage, was superior to AT&T Mobility’s competitors.
The challenger was directly referring to AT&T Mobility’s broadcast commercials that showed people being unable to receive calls in certain areas because they didn’t have AT&T Mobility service, which meant “zero bars”; this is usually followed by a voiceover which states “For the best coverage, switch to AT&T. More bars in more places.” AT&T Mobility, however, argued that the ads only tout one feature of its network: superior geographic coverage.
NAD found that two of the four commercials that show people in certain locations, typically indoors, convey superiority even in those areas where most people find coverage flaws with any carrier. However, NAD did decide that AT&T Mobility provided reasonable support for the claims in its ads, but advised the carrier to modify the claims.
AT&T Mobility released a statement saying that it was pleased with NAD’s decision, but “respectfully disagrees” with the findings regarding two of its four commercials.