ASA Adjudication on Newspost Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad for an advertising service in The Press stated in large text "NOW IN 42,000 HOMES EVERY WEEKEND**". The asterisks were linked to a footnote that read "**Free distribution of The Press is 40,536 plus average paid for sale of 1462". The body copy stated " ... we are the biggest newspaper in the district with 38% more copies than the Dewsbury/Mirfield Reporter, Batley/Birstall News and Spenborough Guardian combined".

Issue

The Yorkshire Weekly Newspaper Group challenged whether The Press, Dewsbury could substantiate the claims:

1. "Now in 42,000 homes every weekend", and

2. "we are the biggest newspaper in the district with 38% more copies than the Dewsbury/Mirfield Reporter, Batley/Birstall News and Spenborough Guardian combined".

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. The Press, Dewsbury (The Press) sent correspondence from their distributor that showed that their distribution figures from September onwards were 40,495 per week.  They sent copies of two print  bills that showed  they had printed 42,900 copies for the edition dated 20 September 2007 and 57,500 copies for the edition dated 4 October 2007.  They sent sales figures from a newsagent retail chain that showed the paper sold on average 1563 copies a week from 21 September 2007 to 2 November 2007.  They said that their distribution and sales figures amounted to 42,058 when added together, so the claim "NOW IN 42,000 HOMES EVERY WEEKEND" was justified.

2. The Press said that according to the most recent figures published by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Ltd (ABC), the biggest newspaper in the district had a circulation of 40,653. They said their new circulation of 42,000 was bigger and supported their claim to be "the biggest newspaper in the district".  They said ABC's circulation figures for the Dewsbury/Mirfield Reporter, the Batley/Birstall News and the Spenborough Guardian showed their combined average weekly sales figures for January to June 2007 amounted to 28,952. They said that was 11,048 less than their figure of 42,000, which amounted to a difference of 38%.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA considered the evidence sent by The Press. Although we noted the claim "NOW IN 42,000 HOMES ... " was based on evidence from a distributor and retailer that were independent of The Press, we considered that only ABC (The Audit Bureau of Circulations) or VFD (Verified Free Distribution) figures should be used when making distribution or circulation claims, because those figures were the accepted industry standard for an independent audit of distribution and circulation. Because the claim was not based on ABC and VFD figures we concluded it was misleading.  

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

2. Upheld

We noted that the statistics used by The Press to substantiate their claim were taken from ABC's figures for January to June 2007. We also noted that they had compared their combined figures for sales and free distribution with three papers that were sold and not given away free. Because The Press had compared their distribution figures for September and October with their competitors' figures for January to June, and because they had compared the distribution of their free newspaper with three titles that were sold and not given away for free, we concluded that the comparison was not fair and the claim was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 18.1 (Comparisons).

Action

The ad should not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)