UK ASA Adjudications 6 april 2011
Ook de Advertising Standards Authorization, de RCC in Groot Britannië, heeft een bundel uitspraken gepubliceerd. Categoriën variëren van paardenmiddelen, vliegtickets, internet, begrafenisondernemers (wederom), internet, loodgieter, isolatiemateriaal, houtovens, sokken, snowboots, rijschool, voedingsadvies, verrekijker, blender, kleding, stofzuiger, eieren en een bank.
Carja Mastenbroek, DLA Piper heeft drie hiervan uitgelicht: vitabiotics, pass n go en personal choice, lees verder.
Zie plaatje hieronder (klik voor vergroting), klik voor de directe site hier:
Vitabiotics
Ad was headlined "ADVANCED NUTRIENTS FOR THE BRAIN" and featured a picture of a box of supplements. Text on the box stated "Vitabiotics neurozan plus To help maintain Brain Function & Performance NUTRIENTS FOR THE BRAIN". Below the product shot, text in a blue box stated "Includes B VITAMINS & VIT D3 AS SHOWN IN NEW RESEARCH", and "B-VITAMINS & THE BRAIN Also includes the specific B vitamins reported in ground-breaking research".
The complainant challenged whether the claims in ad, that recent research had shown that B vitamins could help maintain brain function and mental performance was misleading, because they understood that the research referred to did not support that conclusion.
The ASA considered that the study was not suitable to support claims relating to brain function or mental performance. The ASA therefore concluded that the implied claims that recent research had shown that B vitamins could help maintain brain function and performance had not been substantiated and were misleading.
Breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 15.1 and 15.1.1 (Food, food supplements and associated health and nutrition claims) and 15.7 (Food Supplements and other Vitamins and Minerals). Ad must not appear again in its current form.
Pass n go
A leaflet and directory entry promoted a driving school. A leaflet stated “THE DRIVING SCHOOL WITH THE HIGHEST PASS RATES ... INSTRUCTORS WITH THE HIGHEST PASS RATES ... WE GUARANTEE -THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE - THE BEST DRIVING INSTRUCTORS - THE BEST PASS RATES”. A directory entry stated “I’M PASSING WITH PASS’N’GO The Driving School With The Best Pass Rates Guaranteed ...”.
Complainant challenged whether the claims "THE HIGHEST PASS RATES", "best pass rates" and "best driving instructors" could be substantiated, because they believed the company could not know the pass rates of drivers in other companies and because they believed this implied the drivers would be qualified with the top grade.
The ASA considered that HIGHEST PASS RATES" and the "best pass rates" was a comparative, superlative claim which would be understood by consumers to mean that Pass N Go had achieved more driving test passes than its competitors. In the absence of documentary evidence in support of the claims that Pass N Go had HIGHEST PASS RATES" and the "best pass rates, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.
And further, because we considered that the claim "Best Pass Rates" was an objective claim which defined the "best driving instructors" as those drivers who had achieved the highest pass rates, and because we had not seen any evidence in support of that claim, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.38 (Other comparisons). The ad must not appear again in its current form.
personal choice
A regional press ad, for snow boots and ice and snow grippers, stated "We aim to dispatch goods within 7 days, but please allow up to 28 days for delivery".
The complainant, who was told the items they ordered were out of stock, two months after they placed the order and paid, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
In the absence of any evidence that demonstrated that the products advertised were available for purchase at the time the ad appeared or that Personal Choice had made a reasonable estimate of demand, the ASA concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.27, 3.28 and 3.29 (Availability). The ad must not appear again in its current form.
Overige zaken met introductie
Equine America (UK) Ltd
Two ads, for a horse supplement, in equine magazines: Ad (a) stated "The following equine joint supplements have no objective clinical evidence of improving joint mobility - NAF Five Star Superflex, EquiFlex, PREMIERflex HA, ExtraFlex HA, STRIDE HA, My Joints, Arthri Aid and NEW MARKET JOINT SUPPLEMENT. Cortaflex was successfully subjected to a double blind study of joint mobility at Michigan State University, Medicine Research Department. The rigorous study was led by world renowned...
Co-operative Group Ltd
A press ad for the Fairways Funeral Plan stated “The personal service you deserve. The Fairways Funeral Plan is individually tailored to meet your needs. Everything included in The Fairways Funeral Plan is fully guaranteed no matter how high prices rise and we’ve created flexible payment plans to suit any budget. So even in uncertain times, you can rest assured everything will be taken care of. The Fairways Funeral Plan is only available from carefully selected Funeral Directors which meet...
ExxonMobil UK Ltd
A TV ad for a fuel company showed a man who was identified as the company President of "Upstream Research". He stated "Natural gas is a cleaner burning fossil fuel, yet a lot of natural gas has impurities like CO2 in it. Controlled Freezone is a new technology being developed by Exxonmobil to remove CO2 from the natural gas and safely store it so it won't get into the atmosphere. Exxonmobil is spending more than 100 million dollars to build a plant that will demonstrate this process. I'm very...
Flybe Ltd
A national press ad, for flights, was headlined "Flybe's Massive January Sale". Text in a circle next to a picture of two airline seats stated "10 million seats". The ad listed 70 destinations with their corresponding prices. Text beneath stated "flybe.com Keeping Britain on the move". Small print at the bottom of the ad stated “Fares are one way including taxes and charges, only available online, subject to availability, 21 day advance purchase required. Available for travel on or before...
Fasthosts Internet Ltd
An online sales promotion, for website hosting services, stated "Pay Monthly - 1st MONTH FREE" and "Pay Annually - 2 MONTHS FREE".
BDW Trading Ltd
A leaflet for a housing development produced by BDW Trading Ltd, trading as Barratt Homes Bristol, listed "benefits for all" which included "enhancement of existing wildlife habitat".
Able Group (Services) Ltd
A telephone directory ad for a plumber stated "Local plumber ... 24 hour 1 hour service ...".
BQ plc
A national press ad, for B&Q, was headed "Loft insulation only £1 per roll". Text, next to a picture of a woman laying the insulation, stated "easy to install".
Clearview Stoves Ltd
A magazine ad for Clearview Stoves (wood burning stoves) stated "The leading manufacturer of clean burning wood stoves ... British and clearly the best".
Bvg Airflo Group Ltd
A reader offer, in the Sunday Telegraph, for loose top socks stated "Only £24.99 inc p&p for a pack of assorted pairs, rrp £47.40."
Personal Choice
A regional press ad, for snow boots and ice and snow grippers, stated "We aim to dispatch goods within 7 days, but please allow up to 28 days for delivery".
Pass N Go Ltd
A leaflet and directory entry promoted a driving school. a. A leaflet stated “THE DRIVING SCHOOL WITH THE HIGHEST PASS RATES ... INSTRUCTORS WITH THE HIGHEST PASS RATES ... WE GUARANTEE -THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE - THE BEST DRIVING INSTRUCTORS - THE BEST PASS RATES”. b. A directory entry stated “I’M PASSING WITH PASS’N’GO The Driving School With The Best Pass Rates Guaranteed ...
The International Centre for Nutritional Excellence Ltd
A magazine insert leaflet, for the International Centre for Nutritional Excellence, was headed "CALF COLOSTRUM ... DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING? WHAT TO LOOK FOR, WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?". A table showed test results from samples of calf colostrum powder from a number of manufacturers. Text underneath the table stated "Three separate batches from each company were tested to ensure a completely fair representation of their product was analysed. Each batch was tested to determine if it was EBL...
Windsor Products
An ad, for binoculars, in the national press, was headlined "High Powered Binoculars with Built-in Camera and Video!" Above the headline, text stated "Video Camera + Digital camera + Zoom Binoculars" with images of those three individual items. An arrow pointed from those images to a picture of the advertised product and contained the text "NOW ALL THREE IN ONE". Text below stated "Don't miss out on great photo opportunities with the new OPTICAM 1025. These amazing binoculars not only have a...
Vitabiotics Ltd
Two posters for vitamin supplements: a. The first ad was headlined "ADVANCED NUTRIENTS FOR THE BRAIN" and featured a picture of a box of supplements. Text on the box stated "Vitabiotics neurozan plus To help maintain Brain Function & Performance NUTRIENTS FOR THE BRAIN". Text in a circle on the right of the box stated “UK’s NO1 MICRO-NUTRIENTS FOR SPECIFIC LIFE STAGES”. Below the product shot, text in a blue box stated "Includes B VITAMINS & VIT D3 AS SHOWN IN NEW RESEARCH"....
Kenwood Ltd
A TV ad, for a hand-held blender, showed various shots of a woman using the product.
Jack Wills Ltd
Four full-page ads for Jack Wills clothing appeared in their 2011 edition of "The Spring Term Handbook". The first ad showed a young woman from the shoulders down who was standing with one leg raised and bent at the knee. She was wearing a shirt and a short skirt that lifted to show her upper thigh, buttocks and the lower section of her knickers. The second ad showed a group of three young women and two young men beginning to undress on a beach. One of the men was removing one of the women's...
Morphy Richards Ltd
A catalogue ad, for a vacuum cleaner, included the text “NO LOSS OF SUCTION!*”. Small print stated “*BS EN 60312:1998”.
Noble Foods Ltd
TV and national press ads promoted eggs. The TV ad (a) showed chickens running around in fields and jumping into sand pits to the music from Chariots of Fire. The voice-over stated “at the Happy Egg company we do things differently. We create the perfect environment for our free range hens to run, jump and play, because happy hens lay happy eggs and happy eggs are wonderfully tasty.” The press ad (b) stated "... imagine for a moment you're a hen ... on a happy egg co. farm You're living in...
National Westminster Bank plc
A TV ad, for National Westminster Bank plc, stated in a voice-over "... it's why we're giving all our online banking customers free security software".
