ASA Adjudication on Department for Children,Schools and Families

Ad

A radio ad and national press ad promoted the 'Diploma'.

The radio ad (a) stated “When you're thinking about what qualifications to take, have a look at the Diploma … the Diploma is a qualification for 14- to 19-year-olds that's accepted by all universities … The Diploma, opening the doors to university and work”.

The national press ad (b) showed open doors with a scarf, pen, laptop, microphone, paint brushes, satellite and microscope bursting through them. Text stated "The Diploma, opening the doors to university and work … an Advanced Diploma, equivalent to 3.5 A levels, can get you into any university".

Issue

Two listeners challenged whether the claims "accepted by all universities" in ad (a) and "can get you into any university" in ad (b) were misleading, because they understood Cambridge University only accepted Diplomas in one subject.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

BCAP Radio Code

Response

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said they had worked closely with stakeholders such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) during the development of the campaign to make sure all were content with the accuracy of the campaign messages. They said the Diplomas were being introduced in stages, the first five were introduced in September 2008 and were Engineering, Construction and the Built Environment, IT, Society, Health and Development, and Creative and Media.

They said UCAS had asked all Higher Education institutions to make a statement on their position in relation to the acceptability of the new Diplomas for publication on the UCAS website. They said a small number of universities, including Cambridge, had said they would not accept all of the five Diploma lines which started in September 2008 for admission to their degree courses, but that they would accept applications from holders of the Diploma in Engineering.  All other universities had said they would accept more than one, or (in most cases) all, of the first five Diploma lines. DCSF maintained that because all universities accepted at least one of the Diplomas, the claims in the ads were acceptable.

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) said the Diploma was a generic name related to an academic qualification comprising five different disciplines. The radio ads emphasised the generic name at the beginning by stating "have a look at the new Diploma," then explained the various disciplines before ending with the claim "the Diploma is a qualification thats ... accepted by all universities". In that context, they said listeners would understand that the Diploma was a generic name for a generic academic qualification which embraced disciplines within it. Because all universities accepted at least one discipline, they said they did not agree that the ad was misleading.

Assessment

Upheld

Although the ASA noted Cambridge University accepted the Diploma in Engineering, provided it was taken alongside A-Level Physics, we noted it did not accept any of the other four Diplomas launched in September 2008.  Moreover, we noted a small number of other universities said they would not accept all five of the Diploma lines.  Because ad (a) stated "the Diploma is a qualification for 14- to 19-year-olds that's accepted by all universities" and ad (b) stated "an Advanced Diploma ... can get you into any university", we considered they implied all Diplomas represented a level of academic qualification that would be accepted by all universities. Because that was not the case, we concluded the ads were misleading.

Ad (a) breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2, rule 3.1 (Misleadingness).

Ad (b) breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

Ad (a) must not be broadcast again in its current form.  Ad (b) must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)