ASA Adjudication on Polaris World

Ad

A TV ad, for Polaris World, showed a property development in Spain. A voiceover stated "Here in Murcia, right next to some of the best beaches in Spain."

Issue

A viewer, who noted the development was situated at Condado de Alhama, complained that the ad was misleading because the beach was a 30-minute drive away.  

BCAP TV Code

Response

Polaris World said they were in the process of building a total of seven resorts in the coastal region of Murcia in Spain.  They said six of these resorts were approximately 10 minutes from the beach and that the Condado de Alhama development was slightly further away, but, they believed, no more than 15-20 minutes to the beach.  They supplied a map of the area that showed the location of all the Polaris World resorts.  They explained that the first of the properties at Condado de Alhama should be completed in 2008/2009 by which time they understood that a new road, the A-603, would have been built.  They claimed that that road would considerably reduce the journey time from Alhama to the beach of Mazarron.  Polaris World argued that, although they might not be in walking distance, they considered their resorts were close to the coast and the claim "right next to" was therefore justified.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) said the ad did not deal with one resort but a number of resorts including hotels, apartments and villas.  They argued that all the ads made clear that the resorts were in development and that the properties and facilities shown were for illustrative purposes. They said the ad was merely an invitation to find out more about the not yet built urbanizations.  They maintained that, in that context, the claim clearly meant that the developments were next to or near to some of the best beaches.  They claimed journey times by car of 10, 15 or 20 minutes from the beaches equated to "next to".

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Polaris World's developments comprised seven separate resorts and that the Condado de Alhama was the furthest resort from the beach, approximately 30 km away.  We also noted Polaris World's and the BACC's argument that the ad referred to the resorts as a group rather than to Condado de Alhama in particular. Because, however, a significant portion of the ad featured footage of beaches, we considered that the claim "Here in Murcia, right next to some of the best beaches in Spain" might lead viewers to believe that all of the featured developments were situated very close to the coast.  We concluded that the claim was likely to mislead viewers.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications).

Action

The ad should not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)