U-turn a step bark
Fears fans will continue to be ripped off
WHAT’S the point of a watchdog with no teeth, let alone a bark?
The Advertising Standards Authority raised serious questions about their ability to oversee the industry with a ridiculous U-turn on rip-off ticket sellers.
The group had been expected to help clean up the behaviour of sites such as Viagogo, described as a secondary ticket platform.
Despite that initial plan to force them to use the description in ads, the proposal has been quietly ditched.
It’s a betrayal of anyone who is campaigning for a fair deal for fans.
Compare this with the daft ruling about a Costa Coffee advert, banned for telling customers to buy a bacon roll instead of avocados.
Let’s get some priorities straight – ticket touting or secondary selling is a proper rip-off.
A light-hearted quip about the ripeness of a fruit is not the end of the world. One of these decisions is a joke, the other is a ruling about food.
BRITAIN’S advertising watchdog have been slammed for making an astonishing U-turn that gives the green light to Viagogo to rip off fans. The Advertising Standards Authority – whose primary function is to stop consumers being misled – made a draft recommendation in June to force Viagogo to state clearly that they are a secondary ticket platform.
But yesterday, the ASA reversed the decision, leading anti-tout campaigners to accuse the them of betraying fans.
The initial decision came after campaign group FanFair Alliance made an official complaint, fuelled by the fleecing of hundreds of fans on Viagogo and other sites for Rolling Stones tickets – despite face value briefs being available.
The Record told in March how tickets for the band’s Murrayfield gig were going for more than double face value on sites like Viagogo and Get Me In.
Viagogo pay millions of pounds to Google to leapfrog primary sellers on music fans’ searches.
Research has repeatedly found many customers have no idea they are being directed to a secondary sales platform after typing in searches along the lines of “Ed Sheeran tickets”.
FanFair Alliance campaign manager Adam Webb questioned why anyone would buy tickets for double the face value on secondaries when primary agents were not sold out.
He said: “We’re struggling to make sense of this. It defies all evidence and favours a controversial and potentially law-breaking Swiss website over the interests of UK consumers.
Claire Turnham, founder of Victim of Viagogo Group said: “We are totally shocked by the ASA’s U-turn.”
The ASA denied consumers had been betrayed, saying: “We carefully assessed the ad and launched a full formal investigation, showing how seriously we took the complaints.
“That doesn’t automatically mean, however, that the ad is a problem.
“Our ruling sets out clearly why, on balance, the Viagogo ad was unlikely to mislead.”