ASA Adjudication on Misty Isle Boat Trips

Ad

A leaflet and poster for boat trips:

a. The leaflet stated "… The Misty Isle is a beautiful traditional launch. She is quiet and very fuel efficient and is, therefore, friendly to the environment and the wildlife. In our stunning area we consider these features far more important than reaching your destination at great speed. On your outward journey from Elgol you'll visit a seal colony, see a rich variety of seabirds; possibly Puffins, Golden Eagles, Dolphins or even Basking Sharks and Whales ... This is the ONLY locally owned and run boat trip in Elgol ...". The leaflet included a photograph of two dolphins.

b. The poster included much of the same text as the leaflet and also stated "... 40th Anniversary Year! Skipper Seumas ran his first trip to Loch Coruisk in 1967 ...".

Issue

Bella Jane Boat Trips (BJBT) challenged whether Misty Isle Boat Trips (MIBT) could substantiate the claims:

1. "This is the ONLY locally owned and run boat trip in Elgol ... " in the leaflet, because BJBT were also locally owned and based in Elgol;

2. "... see a rich variety of seabirds; possibly Puffins ... Dolphins or even Basking Sharks and Whales ..." in the leaflet and poster, and the image of the dolphins, because they believed those sights were unlikely;

3. "The Misty Isle is ... friendly to the environment ..." in the leaflet and poster, because they believed no boat could be friendly to the environment; and

4. "40th Anniversary Year! Skipper Seumas ran his first trip to Loch Coruisk in 1967 ..." in the poster, because they believed the skipper had not operated continuously since 1967.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. MIBT said the skipper of the Misty Isle had lived in Elgol on the Isle of Skye his whole life and his family had lived in Elgol for generations; the skipper was a sole trader whose only address was in Elgol. They asserted that BJBT was run by two directors who did not live in Elgol and whose registered address was in Inverness; they asserted that the company "Bella Jane Boats Ltd" had a registered company address in York.  They asserted that they were, therefore, the only locally owned and run boat trip in Elgol.

2. MIBT asserted that, although they could not guarantee that the wildlife listed would be seen on every boat trip, there was a possibility that that wildlife could be seen on their boat trips. They sent a letter from an independent local wildlife expert to support their claims. The letter stated that a variety of seabirds and puffins could often be seen from the shore at Elgol and therefore could be seen during boat trips from the shore and also that basking sharks and whale sightings were possible depending on the season. The expert had, from the shore, viewed dolphins and puffins close to the Misty Isle boat during some of its trips.

3. MIBT agreed that no boat was likely to be friendly to the environment and that the claim "... friendly to the environment ..." was therefore likely to mislead. They said they would remove the claim from future ads.

4. MIBT said the skipper of the Misty Isle had run his first boat trip to Loch Coruisk in 1967 and had continued to run trips to the present day. They sent a copy of the skipper's Boatmasters' Licence from 1974, the year the licence was introduced, which stated he was licensed to operate a passenger vessel with up to 250 passengers. They also sent statements from local residents which stated that the skipper had run boat trips to Loch Coruisk since 1967. MIBT asserted that there had been a time from 2000 to 2004 when the skipper had run a limited number of trips to Loch Coruisk because the boat he had at the time was not suited to the trip.  They asserted, however, that the skipper had made a large number of trips to Loch Coruisk over the last 40 years and had a great deal of experience of the trip.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted the owner of MIBT worked and lived permanently in Elgol and his sole address was in Elgol. We noted the company 'Bella Jane Boats Ltd' had its registered company address in York and the directors registered address was in Inverness. We understood from BJBT, however, that the company Bella Jane Boats Ltd was dormant and had been created merely to protect the name and trademark of the business and that the address in York was BJBTs accountants address.  BJBT said, since their ownership of the business, they had lived on the Isle of Skye, both in Elgol and other areas but were currently not living in Elgol. They asserted that there were many people involved with the running of their boat trips, some of them lived in Elgol, others lived further away.

We noted the people who owned and ran BJBT operated from, but did not live permanently in, Elgol. We considered that readers were unlikely to understand the claim "This is the ONLY locally owned and run boat trip in Elgol ..." to mean that MIBT operated the only boat trip in Elgol. We considered, instead, that readers would understand the claim to mean that, unlike any other boat trip, the people who owned and ran MIBT lived permanently in Elgol and operated their company from there. We understood that was the case and concluded that the claim was therefore unlikely to mislead.

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

2. Not upheld

We considered that the photograph of the dolphins was clarified by the text in the main body of the leaflet which stated "possibly ... Dolphins"; we considered that the photograph did not imply that dolphins would definitely be seen on a trip. We considered that readers were likely to understand from the ad that they would see a variety of seabirds and could possibly see puffins, dolphins, basking sharks or whales. We considered that the ad made clear it was not certain that all, or any, of that wildlife would be seen on one of their trips but merely that there was a possibility they could be seen.  We noted the independent local wildlife expert specialised in birds but that he also had experience of other wildlife. We noted his letter stated there was a variety of seabirds in the area and that puffins, basking sharks, whales and dolphins had been seen in the area and could be viewed on one of MIBT's boat trips. We concluded therefore that the claim was unlikely to mislead.

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

3. Upheld

We understood that the Misty Isle boat would cause some damage to the environment and considered, therefore, that the claim "... friendly to the environment ..." was misleading. We welcomed MIBT's assurance that they would not use the claim again.

On this point, the ads breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 49.1 and 49.2 (Environmental claims).  

4. Not upheld

We noted the statements from local residents that stated that the skipper had run boat trips to Loch Coruisk since 1967. We considered that readers were likely to infer from the ad that the skipper had run his first boat trip to Loch Coruisk in 1967, had continued to run boat trips since that time, and was still running boat trips in 2007. We considered that the claim was likely to be seen as highlighting that it was 40 years since the skipper had run his first trip to Loch Coruisk and the many years of experience the skipper had of running boat trips to Loch Coruisk. We considered that readers would expect the skipper to have run a number of trips over 40 years but they would not expect the skipper to have run regularly scheduled trips every year for 40 years. Because we understood that the skipper had operated his first trip to Loch Coruisk in 1967, had run a number of boat trips since that time and was still operating boat trips to Loch Coruisk in 2007, we considered that the claim was unlikely to mislead.

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

Action

We told MIBT to remove the claim "... friendly to the environment ..." from their ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)