Lovefilm rapped over 'unlimited' adverts

DVD rental company Lovefilm has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority over claims it offered an ‘unlimited’ subscription package.

People complained about the use of the word unlimited in a magazine insert and email because Lovefilm offers a fair usage policy which limits the number of DVDs people can borrow.

The Lovefilm ‘unlimited’ system lets people choose a range of DVDs, and then be sent them – having a maximum of two or three at home, depending on the package they choose.

Lovefilm said it operates a fair usage policy but said that the policy was discretionary and used sparingly. The policy works by prioritizing the orders and higher list choices of those members who had used the service longest and, on average, rented fewer discs per month, than other members.

The rental company claimed the fair usage policy also functioned to de-prioritize those members who were identified as "abusing the service". They said that it was their experience that those members who rented very high numbers of discs were often engaged in illegal DVD piracy.

The ASA said because the ads did not refer to the fair usage policy it believed the ads were misleading. It also said one of the ads failed to make it clear that people could have a maximum of three DVDs at home at any one time.

The ASA told Lovefilm to amend the ads to include that information.

http://www.asa.org.uk

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