An advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy S2 that mentions the technology maker’s “Music Hub” service was the subject of a consumer complaintSamsung was recently ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) to withdraw an advertisement for their Galaxy S2 smartphone that punted its “Music Hub”, a feature that isn’t available to South Africans.
The advertising appeared on Samsung’s own African microsite for the device, and according to the complaint it claimed, “Samsung’s new native music player provides an intuitive playback system to search, discover, preview, purchase and download tracks on the go.”
According to the ASA ruling, Samsung’s response stated that it did not misrepresent availability of the music hub to the consumer, as the terms and conditions are provided when accessing the site.
In particular, Samsung cited that these terms stated “Samsung does not guarantee the continued availability of such content and services”.
Ruling on the matter, the ASA said that it had to determine whether or not the advertisement created a reasonable expectation that the music hub feature is accessible to the consumer.
“It is common sense to appreciate the fact that when consumers are in the market to purchase a new handset, one of the key factors they consider is the capabilities of the phone or its features,” the ASA said in its ruling.
It went on to rule that the promotion of the “music hub” application for the Galaxy S2 phone to local consumers when it is not available in the country constitutes misleading advertising.
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