ASA Adjudication on Damartex UK Ltd

Ad

A direct mailing, for Damart, stated "Your Floral Patchwork Quilt Your FREE GIFT WORTH £25† FREE Warm & Cosy Floral Pattern 144 x 177cm ... thanks to the warm quilting and cascading scalloped edges, you'll benefit from a refreshing night's sleep too ... and textured fabric underneath, your soft padded quilt also stays in place so that you'll remain cosy and comfortable all night long! ... The comfort of a Traditional Quilt ... Characteristics: Insulating ... Composition: ... "Filling: 100% Polyester ... † Your Floral Patchwork Quilt is FREE with any order, however, you can order additional quilts for £25 by quoting ...".

Issue

The complainant challenged

1. whether the quilt was worth £25; and

2. whether the mailing misleadingly implied that the item was a thick-padded quilt that would provide warmth, because she received a thin layer of floral material backed by lining with very little padding between.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Damart disagreed that the mailing was misleading.  They explained that 140,000 quilts had been dispatched, only one complaint had been received but that they took the complaint seriously.  They offered to provide the complainant with a written apology and to send her a £25 voucher for the retailer of their choice as a goodwill gesture.

1. Damart said they conducted research prior to distributing the mailing which showed that £25 was an acceptable market price for a product such as the floral patchwork quilt (the quilt); another online retailer offered a similar product for £29.99.  Damart said they always ensured items offered and illustrated were priced appropriately and they worked with Trading Standards to agree a practice when quoting a "worth" value.  They believed their pricing strategy was in line with their competitors and industry standards.  Damart said the quoted value clearly referred to the price consumers would pay if they wanted additional units of the quilt.

2. Damart said an independent laboratory tested a sample of the quilt in order to establish its thermal properties.  The tests showed that the insulating layer was 8.4 mm thick and that this offered a thermal resistance or tog average rating of 1.78.  They explained that a large online retailer quoted a summer duvet as having an average tog rating of 4.5.  Damart pointed out however that their mailing did not suggest that the quilt was a replacement for a duvet.  Rather, the quilt was intended as a throw to be used in addition to a standard duvet.  They considered that its insulating properties were considerable enough to warrant the use of generic phrases such as 'warm and cosy', 'warm quilting' and 'insulating'.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

We noted Damart had quoted a value for the quilt which they believed was an accurate market price and they had worked with Trading Standards to agree a practice when quoting a worth value.  We considered that the claim "worth £25" implied that the quilt was available for consumers to buy.  We noted the mailing indicated that consumers would be entitled to a free quilt when they made a purchase from Damart but, if they wanted to purchase additional quilts, they could do so at a cost of £25 per quilt.  We were satisfied that the value quoted for the quilt was based on an actual selling price, was representative of the price consumers would pay for similar products on the market and therefore concluded that it was not misleading.

On this point, we investigated the mailing under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 15.1 (Prices) but did not find it in breach. 

2. Upheld

We noted Damart's point that the quilt was not intended as a replacement for a standard duvet. We nevertheless considered that the claims "warm and cosy", "warm quilting" and "insulating" implied that the quilt was a thick cover that would provide adequate warmth when used alone. We also noted the visual appearance of the quilt reinforced that implication; one picture showed a woman in bed with just the quilt over her.  Because we understood that the quilt had a tog rating of 1.78, which was considerably less than the tog rating of an average summer duvet, we concluded that the mailing gave a misleading impression of the quilt and that the claims "warm and cosy", "warm quilting" and "insulating" could mislead.

On this point, the mailing breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

We told Damart to take care with the description of free gifts in future marketing material.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)