Metro ad complaints upheld by regulator

The campaign Más por menos (More for less), which the Metro de Madrid transportation authority has plastered across underground hallways and subway cars in the Spanish capital, is "misleading." So says Autocontrol, the Spanish advertising self-regulation association, after it received thousands of consumer complaints requesting the ads be taken down.

The campaign, which has been running since December, compares the fare of a single-ride ticket on the Madrid subway system with those in other world capitals. But the fact is that in August, the price of a single-ride ticket in the capital had gone up 50 cents to 1.50 euros, at which point Madrid's metro system ceased to be the least expensive in proportion to average wage levels, according to a study conducted by UBS bank.

Online social networks actively worked against the campaign, collecting more than 24,460 signatures on the activism site Actuable, calling for it to be taken down.

"All this is information that our former mayor and our dear regional premier want to present as if to tell us that the 50-percent price rise in the subway fare has actually done Madrileños a favor, and to anticipate potential new price hikes," reads the Actuable website.

Autocontrol's verdict, which is not binding for the subway authority, notes that the Metro de Madrid campaign is misleading "because the fare comparison (...) is not carried out in homogenous terms." While the ads compare Madrid single-ride prices (1.50) with those of Paris (1.70), New York (1.83), Oslo (3.61) and London (4.64), "the services provided are not the same."

The report notes that Madrid's single-ride ticket only allows users to make one Metro trip, while other cities allow all-day travel or free transfers between the subway and bus or train lines.

The watchdog considers that subway users "could be misled" by this campaign, besides the fact that the deception "is intensified by the use of the slogan 'More for less'."

Despite several requests by EL PAÍS, Metro de Madrid declined to provide information about the cost of the campaign, alleging that it used its own funds. The transportation authority has also refused to take it down until late January as scheduled, despite the protests.

"This is an information campaign aimed at users," said a Metro de Madrid spokesman.

Autocontrol's resolutions are only binding for its own members (Metro de Madrid is not one of them). Still, the oversight body, which has more than 300 members, who represent 70 percent of advertising investment in Spain, did not feel that the campaign's failure to make any reference to the purchasing power of residents of other cities represented misleading or confusing advertising for Madrid subway users.

A lot of the graffiti that showed up across the subway system protesting the campaign underscored the difference between the wages earned in the various cities cited in the campaign. On one particular ad, an unknown person had added the following information with a black marker: "Minimum wages: Spain - 641 euros; France - 1,309 euros; Germany - 1,500 euros; Norway - 2,000 euros. More expensive for lower salaries. You're concealing information, Esperanza Horrible (a reference to Madrid regional premier Esperanza Aguirre, of the center-right Popular Party)."

But according to Autocontrol, withholding this information was not deceitful toward Madrid consumers.