ASA Adjudication on Redwood Futures Ltd

Ad

Two regional press ads were published side-by-side in the education and courses section of the business classifieds. a. The first ad stated "URGENTLY REQUIRED ACCOUNTANTS & BOOK KEEPERS No experience necessary as full training given Salaries from £18,000 to circa £40,000 pa. For an interview please telephone 020 XXXX XXXX". b. The second ad stated "URGENTLY REQUIRED PLUMBERS AND ELECTRICITIANS No experience necessary as full training given Salaries from £17,500 to £35,000 pa+. For an interview please telephone 020 XXXX XXXX ".

Issue

The complainant objected that the ads were misleading because they implied that they were for genuine vacancies when in fact they were just for training courses.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Redwood Futures Ltd (Redwood) said they provided training courses designed to help people into their chosen careers. They pointed out that the ads both appeared in the "Education & Courses" section of the newspaper and that they stated clearly "No experience necessary as full training given". Redwood did not believe that the ad misled readers about the nature of the service they offered.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the ads appeared in the education and courses section of the newspaper. However, we considered that the ads did not state explicitly that Redwood offered training courses. We noted they stated "No experience necessary as full training given" but considered that that did not make clear that they were offering training courses only. Furthermore, we noted the ads gave prominence to the various professions being "URGENTLY REQUIRED" and stated expected salary ranges. Consequently, we considered that readers were likely to infer that the ads were for actual vacancies, rather than training courses. Because the ads did not make sufficiently clear that Redwood offered training courses only for the professions listed in the ads, we concluded that they were likely to mislead.

The ads breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1, 7.2 (Truthfulness) and 52.6 (Employment and Business Opportunities).

Action

The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Redwood to ensure that future ads made explicitly clear that they offered training courses rather than vacancies in the listed professions.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)