ASA Adjudication on J D Williams & Company Ltd

Ad

A direct mailing contained Christmas Gifts and stated "Thousands of gift ideas for everyone. 264 PAGES OF GREAT VALUE GIFTS". The mailing contained four pages of various sex toys and gadgets, including a 'natural contours massager', a 'passionator', 'Toys for Boys Exciting Pleasure Gadgets', and a 'Pink Vibe Bunny'.

Issue

Four complainants, who had received the mailing, said several of the featured products that were intended for adults were offensive and inappropriate for inclusion in a mailing that was targeted at the whole family.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

JD Williams & Company Ltd (JDW), owner of Home Shopping Direct, said the catalogue was sent to their active customer database. They said that, because they operated customer credit accounts, it was a condition of their trading policy that all customers were aged 18 years or older. They confirmed that the catalogue was never indiscriminately distributed as a handout but was mailed directly to a named account holder. They said they did not expect customers to pass around the catalogues to their friends and families and did not provide any incentives for doing so. They confirmed that no communications were addressed to, or targeted at, children.

JDW said the objective of the catalogue was to offer a range of products covering a broad variety of ages, profiles and tastes. They said their catalogue was an ideal way to purchase gifts of a personal nature, because unlike High Street stores, there was no face to face contact.   

Assessment

Not Upheld

The ASA noted that, in order to open a credit account with JDW, it was a condition of their trading policy that all customers were 18 years of age or older. We understood that all the complainants were previously customers of companies that were subsidiaries of JDW, all were over 18 years of age, and all had received the catalogue addressed directly to them. We accepted that the catalogues were targeted at existing customers of JDW, who were aged over 18 years old, and were not targeted at children. We concluded that, although some of the products may not have been to everyone's taste, their inclusion in the catalogue was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Principles), 5.1(Decency), and 47.2 (Children) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)