ASA Adjudication on Hampshire Pageant of Motoring

Ad

A regional press ad, for a classic car show, stated "The Largest Motoring Event in the South Coast". Text continued "Thousands of Classic Cars ... Over 90 Car Clubs ... 1st class arena attractions throughout the day ... Huge Craft Marquees ... Massive Auto Jumble ... "

Issue

Beaulieu Enterprises Ltd (BE) challenged the claims:

1. "The Largest Motoring Event in the South Coast", because they held three events during the year that they believed were significantly larger;

2. "Thousands of Classic Cars", because there were fewer than 500 cars at the event;

3. "Over 90 Car Clubs", because they counted just over 30;

4. "Huge Craft Marquees" and "Trade Marquees", because there were only three small tents and no trade marquees; and

5. "Massive Auto Jumble", because there were only 80 stands, whereas they had up to 2000 stands at one of their events.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Hampshire Pageant of Motoring (HPM) said they believed their event was the largest show of its kind in that area. They said it was different to BE's motoring events because HPM's event included an arena measuring 110 metres by 60 metres, they put on displays of aircraft, motorbikes and cars, parachute displays and stunt teams. HPM added that there was also a fairground. They said they would include the qualification "of its kind" in future ads.

2. & 3. HPM submitted two lists from their database which they said were confidential: one showed the details of the car clubs they invited to the event each year and the other showed the details of individual owners of classic cars. In total, they said that this represented over 3000 cars. HPM said they predicted the likely attendance of car clubs and the numbers of classic cars by looking at attendance at the previous year's event. HPM said they had correctly estimated that 90 car clubs would attend the event but did not have documentary evidence of that.

4. HPM sent the ASA a copy of their invoice for the hire of the marquees. The invoice showed six marquees had been hired for an event on 26 and 27 August 2007 and gave their dimensions. HPM said two marquees, measuring 130ft by 30ft, had been used for crafts. They said there had been one trade marquee measuring 110ft x 30ft.

5. HPM submitted a map of the show ground that showed the layout of the event. They said the Auto Jumble area covered 2,500ft of frontage groundspace and the area was always used to its full capacity.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted HPM believed their event was the largest of its kind in the Hampshire area because of its size and the types of attractions it featured. We noted, however, that the claim was "The Largest Motoring Event in the South Coast" and that the complainants had objected on the grounds that their motoring events were larger. We considered that, without qualification to explain the type of motoring event and comparative evidence to show that HPM's event was indeed the largest, the claim could mislead.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Fair comparison).

2. & 3. Upheld

We considered that using figures from the previous year's event was a logical way of forecasting likely attendance of vehicles and car clubs for current events. Nevertheless, in the absence of documentary evidence confirming that 90 car clubs had actually attended the event and that there had been thousands of classic cars on display, we concluded that the claims were unsubstantiated and could mislead.

On points (2) and (3), the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness)

4. Not upheld

We noted the dates on the invoice for the hire of six marquees corresponded to the dates of the event. We noted the complainant had indicated that there were only three small craft tents and no trade marquees. We nevertheless understood that HPM had hired two marquees to house crafts, measuring 130ft by 30ft and one marquee for trade, measuring 110ft by 30ft. We noted from the plan of the event that it showed two craft marquees and one trade marquee.

We considered that the term "huge" was subjective but concluded, on balance, that attendees were unlikely to have been disappointed by the size of the craft marquees. Further, while we noted the ad suggested that there would be more than one trade marquee, we considered that attendees were unlikely to have been disappointed to find only one; we received no complaints from members of the public. We nevertheless advised HPM to take care with their descriptions in future. We concluded that the claims "Huge Craft Marquees" and "Trade Marquees" were unlikely to mislead.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

5. Not upheld

We understood BE objected to the claim "Massive Auto Jumble" because they counted only 80 stands at the event, whereas their events had about 2000 stands, and they considered that did not justify the description of the Auto Jumble as "massive". We nevertheless noted from the evidence provided by HPM that the Auto Jumble occupied an area of 2,500ft frontage groundspace; although smaller in comparison to BE's Auto Jumble, it was still a large area. We noted the ad had not made a comparative claim with regard to the size of the Auto Jumble. We also noted we had not received complaints from members of the public which indicated that attendees generally had not been disappointed with the number of stands. We therefore concluded that the claim was not misleading.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

We told HPM to remove the claim "The Largest Motoring Event in the South Coast" and advised them to contact the CAP Copy Advice team for guidance about the acceptability of future similar claims. We advised them to hold documentary evidence of vehicle and car club attendance figures at each event if they wanted to continue making claims of that nature.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)