ASA Adjudication on Hidden Faces Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad for a Talent Agency stated "MODELS AND EXTRAS Do you think you have the necessary qualities to be a model or TV Extra? ... NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY Call now for an immediate interview, Monday to Friday between 10am and 5pm ... Credits include: The BBC, ITV, Channel 4/5, Sky etc".

Issue

Clive Hurst challenged whether the advertiser could substantiate the claim "Credits include: The BBC, ITV, Channel 4/5, Sky etc".

CAP Code

Response

Hidden Talent supplied paid invoices that showed they had supplied TV extras to work on recent BBC TV and Channel 5 productions.  They also supplied e-mail correspondence that showed they had put extras forward for castings on Channel 4, ITV and Sky productions.  They said that the extras had gone on to work on those productions but that the documentation had subsequently been lost and they were unable to obtain copies of it.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered the documentation showed Hidden Talent had supplied TV extras to work on recent BBC TV and Channel 5 productions.  We noted that it also showed they had put extras forward for castings on Channel 4, ITV and Sky productions and that they had explained why they were unable to provide the invoices themselves for those productions.  We considered, however, that Hidden Talent had not provided substantiation to show they had provided extras for three of the five credits cited in their ad and concluded the ad was misleading.

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

Action

We told Hidden Talent to amend their ad to include only those credits for which they held substantiation.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)