ASA Adjudication on Modern Landscaping and Driveways Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad, for Modern Landscaping and Driveways (MLD), included several local telephone numbers listed against different localities in the Midlands. An 0800 telephone number and an Erdington address appeared at the foot of the ad.

Issue

The complainant, who claimed she was transferred to the same mobile number, regardless of which local number she called, challenged whether MLD had premises in all the locations listed.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

MLD did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA was concerned by MLDs lack of response and apparent disregard for the CAP Code, which was a breach of CAP Code clause 2.6 (Non-response). We reminded them of their obligations under the Code and told them to respond promptly in future.

We considered that the inclusion of local telephone numbers next to different towns implied MLD had premises in those towns. Because MLD did not submit evidence to prove that that was the case, we concluded that their ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response), 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

We told MLD to list local telephone numbers without qualification only if they corresponded to permanent bases used to conduct business and asked CAP to inform its media members of the problem with MLD.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)