VM will no longer be allowed to run the campaign, which featured a website and other social media, after the ASA ordered it to stop using marketing materials that “discredit or denigrate other marketers”.

Virgin Media claimed in its defence that the phrase ‘stop the broadband con’ was simply a “punchy description of the issue at hand”.

The ASA disagreed and ruled that VM repeatedly suggested users of other ISPs were being conned and treated dishonestly.

The ruling is a victory for rival ISPs Sky and BT, both of which protested strongly against the campaign. Sky, in particular, took great exception to a Virgin Media advertisement that parodied one of Sky’s own commercials.

VM’s Stop the Broadband Con webpage contained the possibly prophetic line: “Support the campaign for broadband honesty. You deserve the truth from all ISPs and we’re urging the Advertisign Standards Authority to put a stop to misleading broadband advertising once and for all.”

This morning’s ruling is possibly not what Virgin Media had in mind.