ASA Adjudication on DDAT (UK) Ltd

Ad

A national press ad, for the Dore programme, was headed "Does your child have problems with Reading, Writing or Concentration? A new method has helped over 25,000 people tackle difficulties with learning" and stated "Among those who have completed the Dore programme are Kenny Logan, the former Scotland rugby captain". The ad showed a photograph of Kenny Logan.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading, because it did not make clear that Kenny Logan was a director of Camden Holdings, Dores holding company.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Dore said Kenny Logan had become involved in their business after he had successfully completed the Dore programme in March 2004, which was long before he had become a director and had been actively involved in promoting the programme.  They said it had been widely reported in interviews and articles that Kenny Logan passionately believed in the programme, because it had helped him in overcoming his own problems with reading and writing.   He had therefore become involved in the business to help others benefit in the way he had and not to further his own ends.  

Dore said Kenny Logan was appointed as a non-executive director in December 2006 to advise Dore on the sporting industry and to help develop relations with that industry.  They said he had no shares in Camden Holdings or Dore, was not an employee and did not receive any financial remuneration or related benefit for his position currently or at the time he took the Dore programme.  They said, unrelated to his position as director, Kenny Logan did from time to time undertake paid consultancy work for Dore.  They said that work was entirely separate to his directorship and did not affect the fact that he had no financial interest in Dores profitability.  They also pointed out that he did not benefit financially from increasing client enrolments on the programme.

Dore said they believed the fact that Kenny Logan was a non-executive director of Dores holding company was irrelevant to the ad because he was endorsing the programme because of his belief in its benefits, not because of his position as director.  Dore said they included a reference to Kenny Logan in the ad to emphasise that the programme could have positive affects on sportsmens coordination and concentration.  They pointed out that Kenny Logan was merely cited as an example of one person who had completed the Dore programme and the ad specifically referred to him as "among those who have completed the Dore programme".  They believed it would be disproportionate, and would not add anything to the transparency of the ad, if they had to state that Kenny Logan was a non-executive director of Dores holding company.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted Kenny Logan had completed the Dore programme in March 2004 and had become a non-executive director of Dores holding company in December 2006, to assist Dores development of relations with the sporting industry.  We noted he had no shares in Camden Holdings or Dore and had not received any financial remuneration or related benefit at the time of taking the programme.

We noted the ad referred to Kenny Logan as one of a number of sportsmen who had completed the programme and we considered that, because that was true and because he had not received any financial benefits at the time of taking the programme, readers were unlikely to be misled because the ad did not include a reference to his position as a non-executive director of Dores holding company.  We concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)