ASA Adjudication on LM Funerals

Ad

Three press ads for a funeral director.

a. The first press ad stated “SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1888 … DC Poulton & Sons is one of the area’s longest established funeral directors, proudly serving the community for over 120 years”. The ad also featured an image of Howard Poulton.

b. The second press ad stated “Serving the local community since 1888 … DC Poulton & Sons is one of the area’s longest established funeral directors, proudly serving the community for over 120 years!”.

c. The third press ad also featured an image of Howard Poulton and stated “The Original and Traditional Funeral Directors Caring for families since 1888 …With over 70 years combined experience, Mr Howard Poulton, his Funeral Director Peter Wright and their team of funeral professionals are available to assist you”.

Issue

Daniel Robinson & Sons Ltd challenged whether:

1. the claims "Serving the local community since 1888" in ads (a) and (b), and the claim "The Original and Traditional Funeral Directors Caring for families since 1888" in ad (c) were misleading because they understood that the company that owned Poulton & Sons was established in 2003; and

2. the image of Howard Poulton gave the misleading impression that the business was still family run because they believed that Howard Poulton had retired.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. LM Funerals Ltd t/a D C Poulton & Sons (DC Poulton) said their business was founded in around 1890 by Charles Poulton and his family who were carpenters and builders. They explained that at the time many builders carried our funerals and the Poulton family later opened a dedicated funeral service. DC Poulton sent us a certificate from Epping Town Council in recognition of their centenary of business in Epping between 1896 and 1996 and service to residents since 1890. They also sent us a photo of the Poulton family tree to prove the ancestry of the family dating back to around that time.

DC Poulton stated that LM Funerals Ltd acquired the DC Poulton business in 1997. Because they were only a holding company, they continued to trade under the DC Poulton name. They argued that they fully complied with rules relating to the disclosure of holding companies and ownership.

2. DC Poulton explained that Howard Poulton was still employed by the business as a consultant and funeral director. They said he usually worked two days a week and conducted funerals on those days.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted that the certificate sent by DC Poulton showed they had provided services to the residents of Epping since 1890, but noted it did not state the type of services being offered. We considered, therefore, that it did not constitute evidence to demonstrate that they had been in business as funeral directors since 1888 as claimed. We also noted that the company had been acquired by LM Funerals in 1997 and that they had continued to operate under the name DC Poulton since that time. We considered that the claims "DC Poulton & Sons is one of the areas longest established funeral directors" and "The Original and Traditional Funeral Directors Caring for families since 1888" implied that the company was still owned by the Poulton family, that ownership was "original" and unchanged, which was not the case. In the absence of a prominent statement making clear that the business was owned by LM Funerals, we concluded that the ads were likely to mislead.

On this point, ads (a), (b) and (c) breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

2. Not upheld

We noted that Howard Poulton was still employed by DC Poulton and involved in the business and had not retired. We therefore concluded that the ads were not misleading.

On this point, we investigated ads (a), (b) and (c) under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find them in breach.

Action

The ads must not appear again in their current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)