NEW YORK – A panel of the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appellate advertising law body of BBB National Programs, has recommended that Comcast Cable Communications, LLC:

The advertising at issue had been challenged by AT&T Services, Inc. before BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division (NAD). Following NAD's decision (Case No. 6417), Comcast appealed, and AT&T cross-appealed, certain NAD findings and recommendations.

Comcast internet service is delivered over its cable network, with the same speeds available to nearly all customers in its service area. AT&T, by contrast, provides its customers with three tiers of ISP service. All subscribers to a specific AT&T tier pay the same price but depending on their location do not necessarily receive the same speed. It is this aspect of the AT&T service offering that Comcast sought to highlight in its Roommate commercial.

The panel concluded that Comcast's "Roommate" commercial was misleading because it communicated the unsupported implicit message that AT&T consumers contract for a speed of service they do not receive. Further, the panel determined at least one message communicated to consumers in the commercial is that AT&T's service is substandard in terms of the speeds it promises to deliver (e.g., it does not work or is prone to interruption) and that this message was unsupported.

For these reasons, the panel recommended that the "Roommate" commercial be discontinued.The panel found that the "Best In-Home WiFi Experience" claim asserts superiority over all market competitors and that in a superiority (or even a parity) context, an "experience" claim is an evaluative claim that requires an assessment of consumer views.

Comcast, however, did not offer any evidence from consumers concerning their "experience" with the various service features for which Comcast claimed superiority. The panel concluded that it was feasible for Comcast to have generated relevant consumer research. Thus, the panel adopted NAD's recommendation that the claim be discontinued, or that Comcast should modify it to narrowly tailor its claim to the specific attributes for which it can support a superiority claim.

Comcast stated that it will "comply with NARB's decision" and "take NARB's recommendations under consideration in future advertising."

National Advertising Review Board