Jason Momoa moved into a new neighborhood and was sad because his internet hadn't been connected. Zach Braff and Donald Faison tried to cheer him up, as good neighbors often do, by singing him a song and dancing on his porch. Unlike most neighbors, though, Zach and Donald chose to sing about the joys of T-Mobile home internet. Although they didn't specifically sing about the company's Price Lock feature, that feature was advertised on-screen in some versions of the commercial.
AT&T argued that the term "Price Lock" is misleading because T-Mobile isn't locking the price of its service for any amount of time. T-Mobile countered that "Price Lock" isn't a claim about locking its price, but rather the name of a policy that allows customers to cancel their service and receive their last month for free, if they cancel within 60 days of a price increase. In fact, an on-screen disclosure reads: "Get your last month of service on us if we ever raise your internet rate."
NAD noted that the term "price lock," without qualification, "conveys the message that the price is locked for monthly service as long as the consumer wants the service." In this case, T-Mobile argued that term is clearly qualified by its on-screen disclosure. Even though NAD acknowledged that the disclosure in the commercial was fairly prominent – which is not something we frequently hear from NAD – it found that the disclosure wasn't enough to prevent the claim from being misleading. Why?
Although companies can use a disclosure to clarify a claim, NAD wrote that "a disclosure cannot contradict the claim it qualifies." More specifically: "A disclosure that 'Price Lock' does not lock the price but gives consumers one month of free service if certain conditions are met contradicts the main message communicated by the 'Price Lock' claim." Accordingly, NAD recommended that T-Mobile either stop making the claim or better explain the details of its policy "as part of the main claim."
A good song and dance can brighten a neighbor's day, but it takes talent to pull that off. Drift off key or miss a few steps on the porch and your neighbors will show that Ring camera footage to their friends and laugh at you every chance they get. A good disclosure can save a claim, but it also takes talent to pull that off. If your disclosures aren't clear or they clash with your claim, your competitors will show that footage to NAD and laugh at you, too.
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