Cell C to appeal ASA ruling

Johannesburg - Cell C on Thursday said it intended to appeal the ruling by the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) that it remove its "4Gs" logo from its print and electronic advertising campaign.

“We will appeal the ruling because we believe that this amounts to corporate bullying,” Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt said in a statement.

“It is Cell C’s view that MTN and Vodacom lodged these complaints in an attempt to distract Cell C, which has recently established a major competitive advantage in the marketplace."

The mobile operator said the ASA did not appear to take into account its full and extensive responses to the Vodacom and MTN complaints.

The ASA had ruled that Cell C remove its "unqualified and ambiguous 4Gs" from all its advertising.

'Misleading'

The ASA had received complaints from MTN and Vodacom and consumers saying the 4Gs logo was "dishonest and misleading", ASA spokesperson Corn Koch said.

Complainants told the ASA that "consumers will mistake it to be reference to the '4G' standard network, a level up from the existing 3G standard, especially so as the 's' in '4Gs' is extremely small".

Koch said Cell C submitted that the "4Gs" stood for "4 Great Service" and "4 Great Speed", in line with its "revamp" of its service delivery.

It also argued the converse, that the term could be interpreted to mean that it offers the best data network currently in South Africa.

Cell C had a notice on its website explaining what the "4Gs" stood for, but this was not the case in its print or television advertising.

"These statements, although reasonable, are found to be ambiguous... Advertising on one medium cannot be relied on to clear up ambiguity created in another," she said.