ASA Adjudication on Easylife Group Ltd

Ad

A magazine ad for a car heater/cooler claimed "Instant heating or cooling for your car - only £19.99". Text stated "Don't sit shivering in your car on cold winter mornings, waiting for the engine to warm up. This car heater/cooler uses ultra-efficient PTC ceramic technology to blow 150W of instant heat, which not only defrosts the windscreen in seconds but also quickly warms the entire interior. Ideal for car, caravan, or boat, the heater plugs into the 12V cigarette-lighter socket. In warm summers, switch over to fan mode to enjoy a blast of refreshing cool air".

Issue

1. The complainant challenged whether the device could "cool" a car because he understood it was a fan only.

2. The ASA challenged whether the device could "instantly" heat a car.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

The Easylife group (Easylife) said the unit had a heat coil, and like all convection based heating, the heat was virtually immediate. They said the heater/cooler was not an air conditioning unit but a fan and would work by blowing either heated or unheated air. They said they would amend the copy to make that clearer.

Assessment

1. Upheld

We welcomed Easylifes willingness to amend the ad to make it clearer that, when used for cooling, the unit was a fan only. We noted the device was not an air conditioning unit and we considered that a fan would not deploy "instant ... cooling" or "refreshing cool air" as claimed in the ad. We concluded the claim was not substantiated and was misleading.

2. Upheld

We were concerned that Easylife had repeated the claim "instant heating or cooling for your car" having assured the ASA in a previous investigation that, as there was no evidence to support the claim, it would not be used in future advertising. We welcomed their assurance to amend the ad but concluded the claim was not substantiated and was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

We told Easylife to remove the claims "Instant heating or cooling for your car", "instant heat", "refreshing cool air", and "defrosts the windscreen in seconds" and to seek guidance from the CAP Copy Advice team for the amendments.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)