ASA Adjudication on Avian Ltd

Ad

A trade press ad, for the Metamorfosi Conar reserve parachute. Text stated “YOU’VE ONE RESERVE, THE STAKES ARE HIGH AND IT’S YOUR LAST CHANCE … THEN YOU’D BETTER MAKE SURE IT’S THE BEST RESERVE IN THE WORLD! When you’re at the top level, you don’t mess about with second best and that’s why most top British competition pilots fly with a Metamosfosi [sic] Conar reserve parachute. The best often costs a bit more, but a Conar reserve is still a small fraction of the cost of your main wing. So INSIST on a Conar. Your school or dealer may make less money selling you a Conar as the margins are smaller, but don’t settle for anything less …”.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether Avian could substantiate that the Metamorfosi Conar was the best reserve parachute in the world.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Avian said they believed the Metamorfosi Conar reserve was the best in the world. They asserted that reserve parachutes were often a 'last chance' for consumers and, as such, they could not normally try them out before purchasing one. They believed, as a result, retailers of reserve parachutes were concerned mainly with profit rather than quality; they argued that other reserve parachutes were therefore often much weaker and less likely to work.

Avian asserted that there was little scientific comparison of reserve parachutes. They said, however, they had anecdotal evidence about reserve parachutes and their failures; they sent us some examples of that anecdotal evidence.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that readers were likely to understand from the ad that, following comparative testing, the Metamorfosi Conar was found to be superior to all other reserve parachutes available. We noted Avians assertion that there was little scientific comparison between reserve parachutes but understood that there were a number of factors that could be taken into account when looking at the merits of a reserve parachute, including opening time, descent rate, stability during descent and weight. We considered that, because those points were capable of objective substantiation, we would need to see evidence that the Metamorfosi Conar was superior in those areas to other reserves available. Because we had seen no evidence to show that the Metamorfosi Conar was superior to all other reserve parachutes, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Other comparisons).

Action

We told Avian not to imply that the Metamorfosi Conar was superior to all other reserve parachutes in future.  

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)