ASA Adjudication on View From Publishing Ltd

Ad

Three press ads for an advertising service stated "Advertise in our review section and reach over 86,000 readers".

Issue

Archant South West challenged whether:

1. the claim to reach 86,000 readers could be substantiated; and

2. the ad misleadingly implied that the readership figure related only to the title in which the ad was placed in, instead of relating to all of View From Publishing's titles.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. View From Publishing Ltd (View From) said the figure of 86,000 readers was calculated following an in-house survey, which showed that an average of 2.1 people per household read their newspapers. They acknowledged that the survey did not conform to industry standards, and said they were in the process of commissioning research from a market research company in preparation to join JICREG (Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research). View From said they had not published the ad since receiving the complaint, and would not do so until they had received the results of the independent research.

2. View From said The Review section, in which the ad was placed, appeared in all their publications and not just one of the titles. They said because of that they did not believe the ad was misleading.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted that the figures used in the ad were based on the results of View From's in-house survey. We welcomed View From's assurance that the ad would not be published again until they had the results from the independent research they had commissioned. However, because we had not seen evidence to substantiate the readership figures quoted in the ad, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

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

2. Not upheld

We noted View From's argument that The Review Section appeared in all of their publications. We understood that the content of The Review Section was the same across all of the publications, and that an ad palced in one title would also be placed in all other View From titles. We considered that most advertisers would be aware that the phrase "advertise in our Review Section" related to the body of View From's publications. Because of that we concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead.

On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

We told View From to make sure they held substantiation for the readership figures quoted in future ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)