The Advertising Industry Tribunal has ruled against an appeal by Cell C against a decision by the Advertising Standards Authority that its use of the “power to you” pay-off line in its advertising was in contravention of the authority’s advertising codes. The original complaint had been brought by Vodacom and its parent, the UK’s Vodafone.

The complaint dates back to December 2010, when Cell C flighted advertisements on the SABC that contained the phrase “power to you”. Vodafone and Vodacom have both used “power to you” in their campaigns and the authority ruled against Cell C in the matter, prompting the appeal.

Now the tribunal has upheld the original decision, saying all its members agreed that Cell C breached a clause in advertising codes dealing with imitation and that its appeal should be dismissed.

However, members of the tribunal could not reach consensus on the question whether the authority was correct in concluding that there had also been a breach of a clause dealing with exploitation of advertising goodwill.

A majority of the tribunal was of the view that the authority erred in finding that advertising goodwill in the slogan had been established by Vodacom and Vodafone and upheld Cell C’s appeal in this regard. A minority of the tribunal, however, was of the view that advertising goodwill had been established and that the directorate’s ruling in this regard should be upheld.

Given the authority’s decision on the clause related to imitation was upheld, its original directive that Cell C withdraw its use of the “power to you” slogan was upheld. — Staff reporter, TechCentral