Yo! MTV rapped for unfair competition

MTV's Freeview channel, TMF, has received a ticking-off for running a competition onscreen which promised a prize of £25 - although winners on the £1 a call line discovered they'd only be entered into a draw to win £25.

MTV's defence? That they told entrants about the rules.

Unfortunately, they only did so by scrolling text directing people to look at online terms and conditions. Not good enough, says Ofcom, agreeing with the complainant and all the demands of basic justice:

The caption “for full t’s & c’s visit www.mtv.co.uk/trax ”, was one of six captions screened in sequence, while the captions, “win £25” and “enter the pin to win” were on screen permanently during the competitions. Ofcom notes that the prize draw element of the competition was clearly stated in the terms and conditions on MTV’s website. Nevertheless, Rule 2.11 requires that, “…prizes should be described accurately and rules should be clear and appropriately made known.” The permanent captions appeared to us to tell viewers that they would win £25 if they solved the four digit code. We consider it was inadequate to make the prize draw element of the competition clear on the internet only – the rule had not been “appropriately made known.” As the prize draw element of the competition was not clear to viewers, the prize – a chance to win £25 – had not been described accurately.

We're also far from convinced that the page that hosts the terms and conditions - where silver grey text sits on a deep red background is entirely easy to read, too.