ASA Adjudication on Europe Family Links Ltd

Ad

A leaflet for Europe Family Links was headed "Donate your unwanted clothes and shoes and Help us to create more jobs for young people in the UK!" A heading stated "CLOTHING COLLECTION." Body-copy stated "Europe Family Links is a non-profit organisation supporting disabled and uneducated children, young people, ex-soldiers and families in need around the UK and Europe ... Please put your unwanted clothes, shoes, curtains, household linens, towels and soft toys in the bag ... Our authorised collectors will collect all visible bags ... Your donation is greatly appreciated!" Details of collection days, office hours and a contact telephone number followed, followed by the heading "Charity begins at home! Europe Family Links is a UK registered non-profit organisation ... Companies House registration No XXXXXXX."

Issue

Northamptonshire Trading Standards challenged whether the ad suggested Europe Family Links was a charity because it described it as a UK registered non-profit organisation; included a Companies House registration number and included the phrase "Charity begins at home!"

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Europe Family Links Ltd (EFL) said they were a company limited by guarantee with no share capital.  They said they believed that was the only category of organisation eligible to apply for charitable status, which they were in the process of doing, and that, to reflect it, they used the wording "non-profit organisation" in their ad.  They said the organisation contributed to various charitable causes in the UK and elsewhere in Europe by donating clothes, food and money for education as well as providing financial and medical support.  They supplied expressions of thanks from organisations and individuals they had supported.

They said they used the phrase "Charity begins at home" because, as well as running EFL, they educated their own children in the importance of community spirit and took part in community life themselves.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the charitable causes EFL contributed to; the expressions of thanks they had received and that they planned to apply for charitable status.  We also noted that CAP's published Advice Online entry on Clothing Collection Services advised that ads should avoid including a business registration number because consumers were likely to infer from it that they were donating to a charity.  We considered the phrases "Europe Family Links is a UK registered non-profit organisation" and "Charity begins at home" and the inclusion of their Companies House registration number implied EFL had charitable status when that was not the case.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

We told EFL to remove the phrases "Europe Family Links is a UK registered non-profit organisation" and "Charity begins at home" and the reference to their Companies House registration number from their ad.  We told them not to use wording that suggested the organisation had charitable status unless that was the case.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)