ASA Adjudication on Harris Brothers (Contracts) Ltd

Ad

An ad, in a trade magazine, had the headline "HARRIS BROTHERS, INTERIOR REFURBISHMENT CONTRACTORS SINCE 1946".

Issue

Interplan Contracts Division Ltd challenged whether the claim that Harris Brothers had been established since 1946 was misleading and could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Harris Brothers (Contracts) Ltd (Harris Brothers) explained that Harris Brothers originally started in a small shop in 1946 and had been used as a trading name since then. They sent documentation that they said showed the business had been in operation at that date. They explained that the company had been incorporated in 1985 as Harris Brothers (Contracts) Ltd.

Harris Brothers explained that the company had gone into liquidation in May 2000 and that the assets and goodwill of the company had been transferred to the new company, also called Harris Brothers (Contracts) Ltd, in June of that year. They said that that new company continued to trade under the Harris Brothers banner and they provided documentation relating to the liquidation proceedings. Harris Brothers said they had not claimed that the limited company had been in existence since 1946, rather that the trading name, Harris Brothers, had been in existence since then.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Harris Brothers' response. We considered that consumers would understand the claim "Harris Brothers, Interior Refurbishment Contractors Since 1946" to mean that the company had been trading continuously since 1946. We also considered that, in order to substantiate that claim, Harris Brothers would need to show that they had purchased the goodwill, debts and liabilities of the former limited company, and honoured any guarantees given by the former limited company before it had gone into liquidation in May 2000. We noted that the documentation provided did not show that Harris Brothers had purchased the liabilities and debts of the former limited company, or honoured any guarantees given by the former limited company before it went into liquidation. We therefore concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.

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

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Harris Brothers not to repeat the claim that they had been established since 1946.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)