The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has cleared Microsoft of any wrongdoing over controversial Scroogled advertisement complaints that claimed Microsoft to be hypocritical and misleading.
“Because the ad made clear that the privacy claims were in relation to ad targeting, which Outlook.com does not carry out, [and] we therefore concluded that the ad was not misleading,” the ASA stated.
In the ad, Microsoft promoted Outlook.com by criticising Google’s Gmail for scanning the users’ emails for commercial purposes. The advert suggested Gmail users should communicate with their contacts in Pig Latin to prevent Google from scanning their emails for ad targeting purposes.
The Scroogled advertisement opens with “Ymay ivatepray e-mailway isway onway ofway eirthay usinessbay,” which means “My private email is none of their business.”
The ad continues “Pig Latin may be hard to understand, but you probably need it if you use Gmail, because Gmail scans every word of your e-mails to sell ads.”
“But Outlook.com doesn’t. And you can choose to opt out of personalized ads. To stop Gmail from using your e-mails, use Outlook.com. Learn more at KeepYourEmailPrivate.com and keep your e-mails ivatepray.”
Microsoft, in its defense, claimed the advert was not misleading and also stated that the ad focused on the scanning of e-mails for targeting ads, as this was a “key distinguishing feature between Outlook and Gmail.”
Microsoft insisted that it only scanned users’ emails for viruses and noted that scanning contents of user emails to create targeted ads, was a “significant privacy issue.”
The ASA’s verdict favored Microsoft stating that the advertisement doesn’t breach UK rules. The UK watchdog found Outlook’s “protective” scan as a “standard practice,” and also noted the Microsoft’s distinction between protective scanning and targeted scanning.
