Ad Watchdog: ‘Rangers are Scotland’s most successful club’
Rangers International Football Club will be able to boast it is “Scotland’s most successful club” in future campaigns after the advertising watchdog concluded the claim was not misleading.
The claim was featured in regional press and radio ads for the Ibrox outfit earlier this year. More than 70 complainants challenged whether the advert was misleading because the club went into liquidation last year and a new holding company was formed.
The club previously known as Glasgow Rangers now competes in the third division of Scottish football. It has traded for less than a year under its new guise, which prompted supporters of rivals to argue its claim of being “Scotland’s most successful club” cannot be justified.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says that despite the club operating under a different name, the Rangers brand is a “recognisable entity in its own right” and has continued to exist despite being transferred to another owner.
Rangers had defended the campaign by arguing that given its history – it has won 114 trophies – the claim “Scotland’s most successful club” was “valid” and would “not mislead”.
A Rangers spokeswoman says of the ruling: “The Club was never in any doubt that this would be the outcome.”
