Mobile phone companies have been duking it out for years in order to convince potential customers that each of their services have something more to offer than the competition. Sometimes these advertising battles result in genuinely funny commercials — other times, the ads perform so poorly that they have to be pulled. T-Mobile has never had the market share of its much larger competitors, AT&T and Verizon, and the carrier’s recent aggressive attempt to sway consumers its direction might have been too much.
CNET reports that the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has asked T-Mobile to remove specific claims in the company’s ad campaign that cannot be proven to be true. The main offender was “T-Mobile’s claim that it offered 50 percent more bandwidth than AT&T.” Other claims that the NAD have asserted are “flawed” include T-Mobile’s “most advanced technology” and “faster 3G service” slogans.
As the NAD sees it, T-Mobile’s ads are the definition of false advertising. Whether or not these claims are true is irrelevant when there is no way to prove their legitimacy one way or another.
UPDATE: A T-Mobile spokesperson contacted BGR with the following statement:
NAD’s findings are a validation of our marketing approach. In fact, today’s NAD findings won’t result in any substantial changes to our marketing claims. We will continue to spread the word about our coast to coast 4G coverage, superfast 4G network, and superior call clarity, along with our message of simple, no annual service contract plans, unlimited data and the best upgrade program, JUMP!
