ASA Adjudication on John McCracken

Ad

A direct mailing, for a betting tipster service from "JOHN 'JOCK' McCRACKEN", offered membership to a "Mystery Horses" scheme. The ad claimed "MYSTERY HORSES is an absolutely NO RISK OPPORTUNITY ... Remember there is NO RISK involved with this situation and I can assure you of virtually 100% WINNERS ... I can also confirm that if you decide to join me I will provide you with OVER ONE MILLION POUNDS in profit after just ONE YEAR + A full unconditional no-risk legally binding money back guarantee "Please note that membership is strictly limited and under no circumstances will more than 50 private clients be accepted". Text on the second page of the ad stated " ... therefore when I have been at the cutting edge of winning gambles at up to 100/1 it is no surprise that bookmaker’s representatives have made the following comments after they have been hit with the successful Mystery Horse stings". The ad included testimonials from Ladbrokes, William Hill, Betfair and Victor Chandler, all of which indicated the bookmakers had lost substantial amounts of money at odds of 100/1 and over.

Issue

The complainant, via Trading Standards, challenged:

1. whether the profit claims could be substantiated and

2. whether the "full unconditional no-risk legally binding money back guarantee" was genuine, because he had not received his money back.

The ASA challenged whether:

3. the mailing misleadingly implied that consumers were certain to achieve a profit by joining "Mystery Horses" scheme;

4. membership of the "Mystery Horses" scheme was limited to only 50 clients and

5. the testimonials were genuine and related to John McCracken's service.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

John McCracken did not provide a written response to the ASA's enquiries.

Assessment

Upheld

We were concerned by John McCracken's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code clause 2.6 (Non-response). We reminded him of his responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told him to do so in future.  

Because John McCracken did not submit evidence to prove that the profit claims were accurate, that the money-back guarantee was genuine, that membership of the Mystery Horses scheme was limited to 50 clients, that the testimonials were genuine and relevant to John McCracken's service, we concluded that these claims were misleading.  

We also considered that the mailing misleadingly implied that consumers were certain to achieve a profit using the advertised service.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response), 3.1 (Substantiation), 6.1 (Honesty), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 14.1 and 14.3 (Testimonials) and 17.1 and 17.2 (Guarantees).

Action

We told John McCracken to withdraw the mailing and asked CAP to inform its media members of the problem with John McCracken.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)