National Advertising Division Recommends T-Mobile Discontinue “Save On Every Plan vs. The Other Big Guys” Claim

New York, NY – January 16, 2025 – In a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge brought by AT&T Services, Inc., BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division recommended that T-Mobile US, Inc. discontinue its claim that customers can “save on every plan vs. the other big guys.”  

Fast-Track SWIFT is an expedited process designed for single-issue advertising cases brought to the National Advertising Division (NAD). AT&T challenged two 30-second T-Mobile commercials, one featuring Patrick Mahomes and Snoop Dogg and the other featuring Saturday Night Live cast member Marcello Hernandez.  

NAD determined that the T-Mobile claim “save on every plan vs. the other big guys” conveys the message that the price of a cell phone plan and the same number of lines at T-Mobile will be less than a comparable plan from both AT&T and Verizon. In making its cost comparison, T-Mobile included the cost of certain third-party streaming services, that are bundled with a T-Mobile plan, on top of the price of AT&T and Verizon wireless plans.  

NAD also determined that the bundled streaming services are ancillary benefits to cellular phone plans that consumers are unlikely to expect are included when plan prices are being compared and that consumers are unlikely to understand that the savings comparison includes the value of streaming services bundled with a T-Mobile plan.  

NAD concluded that the challenged claim was unsupported because in some cases the price of T-Mobile’s plan, when not considering streaming services, is more expensive than comparable plans at AT&T and Verizon.    

Accordingly, NAD recommended that T-Mobile discontinue its “save on every plan vs. the other big guys” claim. NAD noted that nothing in its decision precludes T-Mobile from making truthful and not misleading price comparisons about the value of the streaming services it includes with its plans.  

In its advertiser statement, T-Mobile stated that although it “disagrees with NAD’s conclusions regarding the challenged advertising,” it will comply with NAD’s decision.

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