Industry Super Australia (ISA) has voluntarily offered to change its 'Compare the pair’ advertising campaign after concerns were raised by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) regarding the comparisons used within the adverts.
ASIC said it was concerned that consumers could be misled by the advert than run from February to May of this year with future versions of the campaign to clarify terms used in the adverts.
Specifically ISA will clarify the terms 'Average Retail Super Fund’ and 'Average Industry Super Fund’ by detailing the samples used in the comparisons and the number of retail and industry funds used in the samples.
Future ads will also include a voiceover clarifying that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance with ISA agreeing that any future versions of the advertising will be consistent in terms of the time period selected for the comparison.
ASIC commission Greg Tanzer said the regulator was “pleased that ISA has worked cooperatively with ASIC and put forward a suitable proposal to address our concerns.”
Tanzer said the introduction of MySuper had created more low-cost superannuation products and ASIC would closely monitor advertising in the sector to ensure it carried the information required for consumers to make informed decisions.
“ASIC wants consumers to be aware that when deciding to change their superannuation fund, they should consider a number of factors including the fees, the services and benefits offered and the performance of the funds,” Tanzer said.
“ASIC will continue to work cooperatively with the superannuation industry – including retail and industry funds – so that any concerns are resolved quickly. In addressing these types of concerns, ASIC will look to find a balance between clear, accurate and unambiguous advertising and appropriate marketing by the funds of the benefits of their products.”
ISA relaunched the ‘Compare the Pair’ campaign in February 2014, which first ran 10 years ago, as part of the debate around the Federal Government’s amendments to the Future of Financial Advice legislation.
