Telkom said the commercial stated that terms and conditions applied which said that one could not have free WhatsApp if one’s data and airtime were depleted.
The ASA ruled that Telkom was advertising a prepaid product and compared it to DStv offering free access to online subscription video-on-demand service Showmax.
“If DSTV offers free access to Showmax as part of your subscription‚ a reasonable consumer would not expect the free access to Showmax to continue if they cancelled their DSTV subscription.”
The ASA said the free WhatsApp was offered as part of Telkom’s FreeMe bundle. They ruled it was unreasonable to expect free access to WhatsApp once the bundle was depleted.
“If the complainant’s (Ahnie’s) interpretation was correct‚ it would mean that you could purchase one FreeMe bundle‚ and have access to free WhatsApp for the rest of your life.”
The ASA dismissed the complaint on Tuesday.