Sprint Nextel ad claim found flawed

Lost amongst the hype of last week’s CTIA 2010 event in Las Vegas was a recommendation by the National Advertising Review Board that Sprint Nextel Corp. stop claiming in its advertisements that it has “America’s most dependable 3G network.” The claim was initially challenged by rival Verizon Wireless, which claims to have the largest 3G network in its advertisements, in front of the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
The NARB panel noted that Sprint Nextel “lacked sufficient support” for its claim, which the carrier countered in an appeal was supported by independent mobile data network performance benchmark tests conducted by Nielsen Mobile. However, NARB noted the data used to support the claim was from tests that began in Jan. 2008, and that a more recent test begun in June 2008 by Nielsen Mobile that showed Verizon Wireless posted better connection success and session reliability results.
NARB noted in its decision that its determination was supported by Nielsen policy, which states that national claims using mobile drive test data must be based on the “most recent drive data available.”
Sprint Nextel argued that it posted better results in the third measurement in Nielsen Mobile’s testing – signal strength – that supported its “most dependable” claim. The NARB determined that those results were not sufficient to support the claim.
Sprint Nextel also argued that a footnote in the advertisement cites the testing date as well the reliance on signal strength as a factor in the most dependable claim. The NARB panel did not agree with those qualifiers.
“Consumers will reasonably interpret a ‘most dependable’ network claim as indicating the current status of the network, not its performance in tests that have been superseded by more recent tests, and thus the disclaimer contradicts rather than qualifies the main message of the advertisement,” the panel decision states.
Sprint Nextel said in a statement that it “respectfully disagrees with the NARB’s decision and maintains that its dependability claim was fully substantiated based on tests that were designed by industry experts to measure how consumers use 3G data networks.” Sprint Nextel said it had “discontinued the challenged claims and will take the NARB’s decision into account when developing future advertisements.”
A previous challenge by Verizon Wireless resulted in a recommendation that AT&T Mobility modify its “More bars in more places” television commercials.