ASA Adjudication on Anglian Windows Ltd

Ad

A leaflet for Anglian Home Improvements was headed "Big savings across all our product ranges this Spring". Smaller text at the bottom of the page stated "More customers, most recommended". On the reverse were images of the products available. Further text stated "Springtime! What better time of year to think about improving your home? Especially now that our new spring offers are bursting out across the entire Anglian product range ... Whatever you have in mind, Anglian, the most recommended home improvement company around, will design, build and install your home improvement for less this Spring ... ".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the claim "most recommended" could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Anglian Windows Ltd (Anglian) said they were the biggest company in the home improvement sector through volume of sales and had more customers than anyone else. They sent confirmation from an independent market research company that stated they were approximately 20% larger than their nearest competitor in that market. They said that because they had more customers than their competitors, and because their recommendation rate was always above 90%, it was mathematically impossible for another company to be more recommended and the claim "most recommended" was therefore justified. They sent copies of Customer Satisfaction Reports from May 2008 to July 2008 that showed over 90% of the customers contacted would recommend them.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered the evidence sent by Anglian. We noted their argument that the claim "most recommended" was acceptable because they had more customers than their competitors and that over 90% of the customers contacted as part of the Customer Satisfaction Report would recommend them. Although we accepted the evidence showed over 90% of approximately half of their customers would recommend them, we considered that the claim "most recommended" should be supported by comparative data relating to their competitors' recommendation rates. We also considered that the recommendation rate should relate to the proportion of customers who would recommend them, not the number of customers the percentage represented. Because Anglian had not shown that the proportion of their customers who would recommend them was higher than their competitors, we concluded the claim "most recommended" was misleading.

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

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)