TalkTalk has entered into advertising deals with both of the students’ unions in York that could be in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) Advertising Codes, The Lemon Press can reveal.

Social media posts made on the accounts of YUSU and York St John SU (YSJSU) advertised the new TalkTalk Ultra Fibre Optic (UFO) broadband service.

The ASA’s non-broadcast code states:

2.1: ‘Marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such.’

2.4: ‘Marketers and publishers must make clear that advertorials are marketing communications; for example, by heading them “advertisement feature”.’

None of the posts disclosed the financial relationship with TalkTalk, who ‘provided the copy, images and posting schedule’. The ASA’s advice on paid-for social media posts by influencers — this is probably the first time that anyone has accused YUSU or YSJSU of having any influence — notes that:

On Twitter and other social networks, the same basic principle applies: any ads must be obviously identifiable as such. Including a clear label, for example “Ad”, is often a safe bet but there are other ways to distinguish an ad from the regular content of a celebrity or influencer’s timeline. Ads that are very similar in terms of tone or voice as an influencer’s usual posts are very likely to need a label to distinguish them.

YUSU’s typical ‘tone and voice’ of incompetence was apparent in its curiously-worded posts, which suggested UFO is ‘built to handle with all the usage your student house can throw at it’, and that readers should search for ‘York’sUFO’. YSJSU’s posts demonstrated a much higher level of competence, suggesting the service could ‘cope with all the usage’, and pointing out UFO is available via one-month plans, instead of the wholly unhelpful ‘#goodbyelongcontracts’.

Since The Lemon Press contacted YUSU and YSJSU, all the posts have been deleted.

A YUSU spokesperson said: ‘Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have removed the posts in question, and for future adverts we will include the relevant disclaimer. As a not-for-profit organisation, we rely on advertising to fund student activities.’

A YSJSU spokesperson said: ‘We are not at liberty to disclose commercially sensitive information as this is a private agreement. TalkTalk provided the copy, images and posting schedule — so as to fit in line with their regional campaign. YSJSU only works with companies that are in fitting with our values and any funds raised from doing so are used in the pursuit of our charitable objectives and providing services and activities to support and enhance the lives of students at York St John University.’

YSJSU’s statement holds a breathtaking similarity to responses made by a YUSU spokesperson.

• When asked ‘What are the approximate financial particulars of the deal? How many posts for how much?’, YUSU replied: ‘We are not at liberty to disclose commercially sensitive information as this is a private agreement.’
• When asked ‘Who wrote the copy and created the images, and decided when the posts would be posted?’, YUSU replied: ‘TalkTalk provided the copy, images and posting schedule — so as to fit in line with their regional campaign.’
• When asked ‘How does YUSU decide what companies would be appropriate to advertise? Is the fact that TalkTalk’s service does not fall within where the majority of UoY students live thought to be relevant?’, YUSU replied: ‘YUSU only works with companies that are in fitting with our values. In terms of their service areas, TalkTalk is widening this throughout the city, and the campaign they are doing in York is to promote this.’

TalkTalk said: ‘Posts by third parties need to be clearly marked if they are published under a paid-for agreement. In rare instances where this does not happen, we ask the relevant third party to immediately update or remove the posts.’

At time of publication, TalkTalk had not responded to questions about the similarity of the comments provided by YUSU and YSJSU, nor questions about their responsibility to include an ‘#ad’ disclaimer in the copy they provided.

The Lemon Press has very reasonable advertising rates for our issues, printed four times a year with over 2000 copies per edition, and distributed for free across campus. Do get in touch with us for more details.

— Henry Dyer