Global moves to allay concerns about 8-second T&C cap

Global has issued an 11-point guide to agencies and advertisers to help prepare for an eight-second cap on radio ads’ terms and conditions from December.

The Consumer Trust Initiative initially reduced the length of permissible terms and conditions to eight seconds for radio ads in the motor sector. But its second phase will see this extended to all sectors advertising on Global radio stations effective from 1 December.

In an email to advertisers, Mike Gordon, chief commercial officer at Global, said he recognised there were “some concerns” about being able to deliver compliant advertising within this limit.

To reassure agencies and advertisers, there are a total of 11 suggestions (listed, below) to help reduce the length of terms and conditions in radio ads.

These include removing specific phrases like “charges apply”, “2 for 1 offers with the cheapest item free”, “subject to availability”, and “subject to status/credit check” as in many cases these are generally understood by consumers and not necessary in a radio ad, but could be added later on in the sales journey.

Other ways to reduce the time taken by terms and conditions include taking out offer end dates, lists of exclusions, repeating information in tags, previous pricing, contractual terms, and qualifications and clarification.

Specifically for telecoms and broadband advertising, the advice was that there is no need to include information that “does not materially affect listeners’ ability to take up an advertised offer”.

Global has more guidance on the Consumer Trust Initiative online and is also funding resource at the Radiocentre to further help with guidance for advertisers and agencies.

Global’s 11 suggestions to help reduce T&C length

1. Charges apply 

Consumers generally understand that there is always a price attached to products.

2. 2 for 1 offers/cheapest item free

It is generally understood by consumers that this is how 2 for 1-style promotions work

3. Subject to availability 

Providing that the advertiser has good reason to believe that they have sufficient availability to meet the demand likely to be generated by the ad, this is in most cases not necessary

4. Offer end dates  

In most cases there is no need to include an offer end date providing that the ad is withdrawn a reasonable period before the end date

5. Lists of exclusions

It is not usually necessary to list all the exclusions to an offer, instead a phrase such as ‘selected items’ are excluded would suffice

6. Repeating information in tags 

Where information is included in the body copy, repetition in a tag should be avoided

7. Telecoms and broadband advertising 

Whilst promotions and offers in this sector can be complex, there is no need to include information that doesn’t materially affect listeners ability to take up an advertised offer

8. Previous pricing 

Where ads quote a price and indicate that the price has been reduced, they are not necessarily required to give an indication of the previous pricing

9. Contractual terms

Offers are often subject to contractual terms. However, providing that they don’t exclude some listeners from the offer, they normally don’t need to be include in an ad

10. Subject to status/subject to credit check 

Clearly information of this kind will need to be communicated to the purchaser during the sales journey, but it would not always be material information for the purposes of a radio ad

11. Qualifications and clarification 

Consumers understand that qualifying criteria apply to offers and it’s not always necessary to spell these out where they the condition can be easily complied with and doesn’t exclude any listener from participating