BP advertisements
Sir: Your claim in reference to the BP television advertising that any other ven- dor would be required by the Independent Broadcasting Authority to include a warn- ing that the value of shares could go down as well as up (Leading article, 31 October) is incorrect. This is not normally an IBA requirement for advertisements for share prospectuses, and no special exception was made for BP.
The Eurotunnel advertisement was, however, required to carry the warning, `Investment in Eurotunnel contains a signi- ficant degree of risk,' on the advice of the IBA's legal and financial advisers. This was on the grounds that Eurotunnel has no trading record. In the past, the Stock Exchange has required five years of trading figures when a company is floated. On this occasion it did not.
Frank Willis
Controller of Advertising, IBA, 70 Brompton Road, London SW3
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