ASA Adjudication on Online Turf Ltd

Ad

An ad that took the form of a Google sponsored link claimed "The UK's Leading Turf Grower".

Issue

Rolawn Ltd challenged whether the claim "The UK's Leading Turf Grower" was misleading and could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Online Turf Ltd said they were the first company in the UK to sell turf online.  They said they had the highest Google page rank of any UK turf grower.  They said while they did not hold figures for competitors, they believed they sold more turf online than any other company in the UK.  They said they had introduced new complementary products alongside turf and offered a next day delivery service.  They said they were founder members of the Turf Grass Growers Association (TGA) and supplied turf certified by the TGA.  They admitted that, although they considered themselves one of the largest turf growers, they were not the largest in the UK in terms of turf acreage under production, but argued that industry or market leadership should not be based on turf acreage.  They said  they had not intended to mislead and they had amended their ad to state "The UK's Leading Turf Supplier".

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA  reminded Online Turf Ltd of the need to hold comparative data on competitors to substantiate claims for industry leadership.  We did not consider that online presence or Google page ranking were suitable substantiation for the claim "The UK's Leading Turf Grower".  We considered that Online Turf Ltd's range of complementary products demonstrated their role as a turf retailer and not a turf grower.  We noted that Online Turf Ltd belonged to the TGA, but did not consider membership of a trade body demonstrated that they grew more or better turf than their competitors.  We concluded that the claim was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Other comparisons).

Action

We asked Online Turf Ltd to ensure they held full substantiation for all claims in future.