ASA Adjudication on Great British Circus

Ad

a. Leaflets and posters for the Great British Circus showed pictures of circus animals and performers. A circular medal towards the bottom of the page stated “Voted No.1 for Animal Care.”

b. The leaflet also showed a pair of elephants. A sign behind them stated “Don’t Miss The Elephants.”

Issue

1. The Captive Animals' Protection Society challenged the claim "Voted No.1 for Animal Care" in ads (a) and (b). They believed the award was made by a trade newspaper in 2003 on the basis of an individual's opinion.

2. They also challenged whether the references to elephants in ad (b) were misleading because they did not believe the Great British Circus had ever had elephants in its show.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. The Great British Circus said industry publication "Worlds Fair" had presented them with awards for animal husbandry in 2002 and 2003 and that those were still current because no awards had been made in 2004 or 2005. They believed the term "voted" was understood simply as indicating a choice and could refer to one person or to a group. They believed the awards were important and recognised by the industry. They sent a statement from the Circus Editor at the "Worlds Fair" at the time who said the award was designed to promote the highest standards in the British circus industry and that he had made it following his own inspection and after consultation with others.

2. The Great British Circus sent documentation showing they had contracted an elephant act that had subsequently failed to honour their agreement. They said by that time publicity had already been printed and circulated, but that in an effort to minimise the disappointment caused to the public they displayed a large notice board at the entrance to the circus ground that said the elephant act was not appearing; they informed customers making telephone bookings that the elephant act was no longer appearing; they removed references to the elephants from future publicity and made arrangements for an act of equal quality to replace them. They regretted the non-appearance of the elephants but believed they had responded promptly, honourably and with integrity to a situation that they had taken all reasonable measures to avoid. They believed their customers had understood the situation and while they had received many hundreds of letters and e-mails, none had complained about the way they had dealt with this situation.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA considered the word "vote" was more likely to be understood as a decision taken by the majority of a group than one persons decision, even if that person had consulted others before making it. We also considered it was a material fact that the award was made by a trade magazine and the ad should have made that clear.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

2. Not upheld

We acknowledged the absence of the elephants arose from a situation that was outside the Great British Circuss control and considered that they had taken a number of measures to make amends. Because the ad was accurate at the time it appeared and because they had taken all reasonable steps to avoid disappointing customers we did not consider the ad was in breach on this point.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

We told the Great British Circus to remove the word "voted" and make clear the date and source of the award in future ads and reminded them to take care when including in ads details of acts that they had contracted but which were not yet in their possession.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)