Johannesburg - The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has found that e-hailing app service Bolt’s digital adverts, which advertise driver earnings at up to R30 000 per month, were misleading and in contravention of the code of advertising practice in South Africa.
E-hailing driver Nothani Hadebe had written to the advertising regulator complaining that Bolt was luring unsuspecting people to join the e-hailing service as drivers under the impression that they would make R30 000 monthly on the app.
He also complained that Bolt was misleading potential drivers in advertising that there were no monthly fees, when in fact they charged commission of up to 30%, he said in his complaint.
“The advertiser does not own any vehicles, and so drivers are lured into buying cars on credit by the promised returns that never materialise,” Hadebe charged.
In response, Bolt, who said they were not obligated to respond to the complaint as they were not a member of the ARB, said their advert was not misleading nor was it a blatant lie, because they did not claim that the R30 000 reward was guaranteed, and that some drivers did in fact make over R30 000 a month.
“(Bolt) submitted that the advertisement was not misleading or a blatant lie…
“At no stage in the advertisements does it claim that it guarantees an income of R30 000 per month, but there are drivers who make use of its e-hailing application who do earn R30 000 per month.
“It does not charge any monthly fees; it has not communicated in the advertisement that it owns any vehicles; it's commission rate is 23% and not 30%, as alleged”.
FINDINGS
The advertising regulator found that the claims of earning R30 000 monthly or R6 000 weekly on Bolt were misleading and unsubstantiated, and were thus in breach of Clauses 4.1 and 4.2.1 of Section II of the advertising code.
“The Directorate is of the view in the matter at hand that the claims in question implies that a Bolt taxi driver, working a reasonable amount of hours, would be able to earn up to R30 000.00 a month, or up to R6 000 a week.
“The use of the word “around” makes it seem that this is a reasonably achievable goal, rather than an absolute top level achievement that has occasionally been reached.
“The Code expects the advertiser, when making such a claim, to have proof that a reasonable amount of its drivers are able to attain such a performance, working reasonable hours,” read the ruling.
The regulator said it expected Bolt to produce audited records of payments made to drivers as proof that most drivers were reasonably able to earn an income in the vicinity of R30 000 a month or R6 000 weekly.
“A Google search brought the following to light. On its Google ad, Bolt claims that one can earn up to R250 a day - this is R7 500 a month,” read the ruling.
It said other sources reported earnings of between R14 000 and R17 500 monthly.
“In light of this contradictory evidence, and in light of the failure of the advertiser to provide substantiation, the directorate has no basis on which to find that the claim is substantiated.”
On the issue of monthly fees, the regulator found that the claim made by Bolt that there were no monthly fees was ambiguous and misleading.
The regulator said Bolt had given an impression that monthly fees were an industry standard, when this was not the case.
“The question before the directorate is therefore the relevance of the claim ‘there are no monthly fees’, within the context of the advertisement at hand, where there is an invitation for car owners to use the e-hailing app to earn a certain amount of money.
“On one hand, it does appear to be true that there are no monthly fees. The Directorate is not clear on whether this is the industry norm, or whether other platforms charge a fee.
“A cursory search can find no evidence of such a fee being standard,” read the ruling.
The regulator dismissed the complaint about car ownership.
The regulator, as a sanction, said members of the ARB were advised not to accept any advertisement from Bolt with the claims of “no monthly fees”, “earn around R30 000 a month” and “earn around R6 000 a week”.
Bolt’s country manager for South Africa, Takura Malaba, told MyBroadband that the ads, which have now been deemed misleading, formed part of their broader marketing plan.
He said Bolt continued to enhance its creative and business processes “and the current advert, as noted, is not misleading, and it forms part of a broader marketing plan.
“The type of collateral for our marketing varies from time to time, and we are always looking to have refreshed adverts published,” he told MyBroadband.
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