The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
Tele2's 'free PlayStation 5' with 24-month broadband ruled misleading
Tele2's 'buy broadband and get a PlayStation 5' implied the console came free — but it offered no proof the 24-month price had not been raised to cover it.
Tele2 Sverige AB · 2026-06-29
What happened
Tele2 advertised on its own site: 'Buy broadband and get PlayStation 5', with a smaller line noting a PS5 Slim Digital Edition (value 6490 kr) came 'on the house' with a 24-month broadband commitment, priced 'from 499 kr/month'.
Complainants argued the offer was misleading: a 12-month commitment was cheaper than the 24-month deal with the PlayStation, so the console was not actually 'included' — customers paid more for the longer term to get it.
Tele2 countered that the 12-month offers were not comparable, that the 24-month price was the ordinary list price, and that the subscription price had not been raised to cover the console.
The Reklamombudsmannen found the average consumer would read the headline as the PS5 being included at no extra cost. Because Tele2 supplied no evidence that the 24-month price was the same before and during the offer, the claim 'buy broadband and get a PlayStation 5' was held misleading under Article 5 of the ICC Code.
Why it happened
- The headline implied the console was free, when the price being paid for the 24-month term was exactly what the offer depended on
- Tele2 made a factual claim about its own pricing — that it had not raised the price to fund the console — and produced no evidence for it
- Substantiating the value of the 'free' gift was the whole game, and it was lost on the burden of proof
The lesson
When a 'free' gift is bundled into a longer commitment, the claim that the price was not raised to cover it needs evidence. Skip it and the regulator reads the headline as a customer would — not free.
Aftermath
Reklamombudsmannen held the Tele2 broadband offer misleading under Article 5 of the ICC Code, because Tele2 did not substantiate that the 24-month price was unchanged when the PlayStation offer was published.
Sources
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
Doro's 'your parents' lives may depend on this button' ad ruled fear without reason
Hallon's chatbot said phone support didn't exist — a Swedish court fined the answer
Valokuitunen led with '€0 fiber' and buried the 5-year contract and the total price
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.