An investigation by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) upheld a complaint from FanFair Alliance that the secondary ticketing site Viagogo breached advertising rules with “misleading” ads on the NME website last summer.
According to the investigation, two advertorials were published on NME that linked users back to Viagogo’s site — one in June regarding a show at BST Hyde Park for P!nk and Guns ‘N Roses and another in July to help fans secure tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
The complaint over the two advertorials were filed by Fan Fair Alliance, a campaign group that has openly been anti-ticket touting, claiming that the ads were “misleading” since both shows prohibited the resale of tickets through secondary sites like Viagogo. In response to the complaint, the ticketer said the ads simply stated that tickets were available on Viagogo’s site, noting that the ad did not specifically offer tickets to a certain show or lead consumers to a transaction page.
According to a summary from the ASA, Viagogo did not find the ads to be misleading and “believed it was extremely unlikely that a customer would not gain admission to an event after purchasing a ticket through Viagogo, even if the terms and conditions of the event itself purported that resale tickets were prohibited.”
Nonetheless, the ASA upheld the complaint, as the event at BST Hyde Park and Swift’s Eras Tour specifically outlined the prohibition of resale tickets in their respective terms and conditions.
“Because Viagogo was a secondary-ticket outlet, we considered BST Hyde Park and Taylor Swift Era’s tour tickets purchased on the Viagogo website were purported to be invalid, according to both event’s terms and conditions,” the ASA said.
Following the investigation, the ASA warned Viagogo that future ads should not mislead consumers with omitted information regarding entry restrictions via secondary sites. FanFair has since filed a new complaint against the ticketer, noting that while the live ads now have a disclaimer, they are still “inaccurate and misleading” and called for the ASA to “take further action against Viagogo in order to protect consumers.”
Viagogo provided the following statement to TicketNews:
We are disappointed by the Advertising Standards Authority ruling.
viagogo is a safe, secure and regulated global online marketplace, and we are fully compliant with the law in all markets in which we operate.
The ‘lead booker’ requirement for Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ UK shows has been removed by Ticketmaster and AEG. This means there is no longer a need for the lead booker to be present and attend the show. Ticket fraud is extremely uncommon on our marketplace as less than 0.02% of ticket holders encounter an issue at the door. In any event, the viagogo guarantee is in place to protect fans and ensure those who have purchased tickets on our platform get in the door or their money back.
We exist to get fans into live events and oppose anti-consumer actions taken by event organisers to restrict purchasing and resale options in an attempt to control the market. These measures ultimately harm fans by limiting choice, flexibility, and access.
Earlier last year, FanFair Alliance called for legislators to outlaw uncapped ticket resale in the United Kingdom, re-launching a campaign after three years.
