Mint Mobile Appeals National Advertising Division Recommendation to Discontinue or Modify Claim that its Unlimited Plan is “Now Just $15/Mo.”

New York, NY – October 4, 2023 – In a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge brought by AT&T Services, Inc., the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs recommended that Mint Mobile, LLC discontinue or modify the claim that its Unlimited Plan is “now just $15/mo.” 

Mint Mobile offers prepaid phone plans, which, unlike plans offered by AT&T and other major wireless carriers, require customers to pay upfront before receiving service. Mint Mobile’s $15/mo price for its Unlimited plan is a promotional rate that is only in effect for three months. After three months of service, the monthly rate increases with the exact amount of the increase dependent on which plan the consumer selects.  

Fast-Track SWIFT is an expedited process designed for single-issue advertising cases brought to NAD. At issue for NAD was whether the nature of Mint Mobile’s promotional offer was adequately disclosed.

In banner ads, on social media, and in a television commercial, Mint Mobile advertises that the price of its Unlimited Plan is “now just $15/mo.” However, NAD found that the challenged advertising does not adequately disclose that the $15 monthly service is a promotional offer for only three months of service.

Accordingly, NAD recommended that Mint Mobile discontinue the claim that its Unlimited Plan is “now just $15/mo” or clearly and conspicuously disclose that the offer is a promotional offer for three months of service as part of the main claim or in similar size text and font in close proximity to the main claim.

In its advertiser statement, Mint Mobile stated that it will appeal NAD’s decision because it “respectfully disagrees with NAD’s determination that the contours of the promotion were inadequately disclosed and that consumers reasonably interpret the phrase, ‘now just $15/mo’ to mean that ‘the rate is one in perpetuity, or of longer duration similar to introductory pricing offered by other wireless carriers’” because Mint Mobile only offers “wireless service plans in three-, six-, and twelve-month increments.” 

Appeals of NAD decisions are made to the BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appellate-level truth-in-advertising body of BBB National Programs. 

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive. Per NAD/NARB procedures, this release shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes.