ASA Adjudication on The Dorset Magazine Ltd

Ad

A front-page flash, on Dorset Life magazine, stated "The best-read county magazine in Dorset".

Issue

Archant Life challenged whether the claim was misleading and could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Dorset Life said "best-read" was the superlative of the adjective "well read" and, when applied to a magazine, referred to the quality of the magazine, the extent of research, the intellectual level of its content, and an assumption on the part of the writers of the degree of knowledge of its readers. They accepted that comparing such characteristics between publications was a subjective judgement, but believed a brief evaluation of their magazine and their nearest competitor would substantiate their claim. They said the claim could also be interpreted to mean that their magazine was the best Dorset county magazine to read.

Dorset Life said, although they did not intend the claim to refer to circulation or sales figures, they believed that that interpretation was nonetheless valid and supplied the ASA with figures that they believed showed they sold more copies than their nearest competitor.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Dorset Life's argument that "The best-read county magazine in Dorset" referred to the quality of the magazine, but considered this was unclear and was likely to be understood to be a reference to their readership or sales figures. We also considered that, because of the way the claim was worded, it was unlikely to be interpreted to mean that Dorset Life was the best county magazine to read. We noted the sales figures provided by Dorset Life but, because the sales figures for the competitor magazine were estimated, we did not consider them to be sufficiently robust substantiation for a "best-selling" claim.

We concluded that, because it implied a "best-selling" claim, which was not supported, and not Dorset Lifes own opinion about the quality of their magazine, it was likely to mislead.

The front-page flash breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The front-page flash must not be used again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)