The ASA has upheld a complaint against Zimran Ltd t/a Prosperi Academy. Prosperi Academy is an app offering financial investment training courses. The ad showed an individual’s bank account balance increasing in real time as the individual made investment transactions. Small text at the bottom of the screen said that the platform was a learning platform and did not provide any investment or financial advice, and noted that capital may be at risk. The ad was seen on a non-specific platform and addressed to a general audience.
The ASA received a complaint challenging whether the investment returns on the ad were misleading and could be substantiated, and alleged the ad was misleading because it did not make clear the risks involved in investment and irresponsible because it took advantages of consumers’ inexperience and credulity.
Prosperi said the claims in the ad were not based on real data and that the disclaimer sufficiently highlighted the risks of financial investment. It says the ad just demonstrated the simulation features of the app and was not supposed to be a guarantee of success.
The ASA acknowledged that the claims were not based on real data but said the initial claim “how do you become the first millionaire in your family” and the increasing bank balance shots would lead consumers to understand they could make high investment returns by taking the Prosperi courses. So Prosperi should have held data to substantiate these claims – such as data showing investment returns that app users achieved. The ad did not make it sufficiently clear that the claims were fictional – but even if it had been clear the ad still gave the impression that taking the course would lead to high investment returns.