AT&T's fight with T-Mobile just dragged the advertising watchdog to court

AT&T is suing the National Advertising Division (NAD) to protect its advertising campaign that calls T-Mobile. Yes, you read that right: they are suing the advertising watchdog, not their actual competitor.

What is all this drama about?

You may remember that we reported on AT&T Launches New Ad Campaign, “Ain’t Our First Rodeo,” Directly Targeted T-Mobile. The ads claim that the NAD, a watchdog within the Better Business Bureau in charge of reviewing advertising complaints of wrongdoing, has discovered T-MobileAdvertising is false or misleading at least 16 times in the last four years, which is a fact. However, NAD apparently didn’t like being the star of AT&T‘s show and asked them to withdraw the campaign, since this violates the agreement that NAD findings cannot be used for self-promotion. Instead of complying, AT&T he felt justified in filing a lawsuit against the NAD. Basically, the company is asking the court to declare that it has a First Amendment right to “speak the truth” about T-MobileThe history of The filing of this lawsuit has been made public by AT&T via a blog post which links directly to the complaint filedand issues the following statement, positioning AT&T As a consumer advocate:

Some companies deceive customers; others defend them. We believe all consumers deserve to hear the truth, even if it makes T-Mobile uncomfortable.

Jeff McElfresh, AT&TDirector of operations

Why is this fight between aircraft carriers different?

The announcement that started it all. | Video credit –AT&T

This is not just your standard T-Mobile vs. AT&T vilification; This takes the industry’s self-regulatory body directly to court. T-Mobile has spent years building its “Un-carrier” reputation, promising things like transparent billing and “fixed price” guarantees. AT&T aims directly at that picture, using the NAD’s own past findings as ammunition.

In his complaint, AT&T alleges T-Mobile plays with the “slow” NAD process, allowing them to keep “misleading ads on the air for months.” They are not just calling T-Mobile a liar; They accuse them of being “lying carriers” and claim that the watchdog (NAD) is not effective in stopping them. It leaves consumers stuck in the middle, trying to figure out if someone is telling the whole truth.

This one is complicated

Honestly, it’s hard to pick a side here. It’s no secret that T-Mobile has a history of questionable claims; We have covered many of them ourselves. But let’s be fair AT&T He is no saint in the carrier war and, frankly, the entire industry has a problem with transparency. Therefore, taking sides is difficult when it seems that no one has the clean hands they claim to have.

Personally, I can understand why the NAD would not want its decisions used as ammunition in a competitor’s advertising campaign; that’s a standard rule for them. it feels like AT&T is trying to claim moral authority as the “truthful bearer”, but in reality they don’t have an impeccable track record to back it up. Suing the watchdog itself is certainly a bold (and strange) strategy. We don’t know how the court will rule, but one thing is for sure: it will be a fascinating case to watch.