Today (January 10th), the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have upheld two complaints made by FanFair Alliance about the misleading adverts of controversial ticket touting website viagogo.
The complaints centre on two advertorial features published in the NME, both of which omitted crucial information about ticket resale protections for live shows by artists including Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Lana Del Rey and Blackpink.
Both articles also advised that viagogo was a safe and secure platform to buy and sell tickets – despite the T&Cs for these events specifically prohibiting the resale of tickets for profit through “unofficial” websites (such as viagogo).
Full details of the ruling can be found here.
Both advertorial features were found to have breached the CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).
The ASA has ruled that “the ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told viagogo AG to ensure future ads did not mislead consumers by omitting material information regarding the entry restrictions on tickets purchased through them and other secondary ticketing sites.”
Commenting on the ruling, Adam Webb, campaign manager, FanFair Alliance said:
“This is an important ruling by the ASA, which highlights how websites like viagogo continue to mislead consumers and mis-sell them touted tickets. British audiences deserve greater protection from these rip-off merchants. It is high time the UK followed the example of countries like Ireland and France and outlawed their parasitical practices.”
Viagogo have since responded to the ASA ruling by adding a short disclaimer to the offending NME features.
FanFair believes this disclaimer is in itself inaccurate and misleading. We also believe that viagogo is now operating in clear breach of UK consumer protection legislation.
We have today written to both the ASA and the Competition & Markets Authority, urging them to take further action against viagogo in order to protect consumers.