ASA Adjudication on Community Trade Marks & Designs Ltd

Ad

A direct mailing, for registering trade marks, was sent to companies and was headlined “European Trade marks and Designs”. Text below stated “Register Community Trade marks”. The mailing included details of a trade mark name and payment details. Text stated “Payment due to: … Total to pay: 750,00 € … Please pay the whole amount stated above within 10 days. Small print stated “ … This is not a bill. This is a solicitation. You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated underneath unless you accept the offer … This is an update fee for 2009 registration”. The mailing also included an “International Payment Instruction”.

Issue

The Istituto dell Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria (IAP) objected that the mailing misleadingly implied that it was an official request for payment.

CAP Code

Response

Community Trade Marks & Designs (CTMD) did not respond to our enquiries.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA was concerned by CTMDs lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code clause 2.6 (Non-response).  We reminded them of their obligations under the Code and told them to respond promptly in the future.

We noted the ad had the appearance of a bill and stated "Please pay the whole amount stated above within 10 days".  We considered the overall impression of the ad was such that it implied it was an official request for payment.  We noted that small print stated " ... This is not a bill.  This is a solicitation.  You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated underneath unless you accept the offer ... "; that text was very small, however, and we nevertheless considered it contradicted the overall impression that the ad was an official request for payment.  We considered the small print did not go far enough in removing that impression and the ad did not make sufficiently clear that it was a marketing communication.  We concluded that the ad misleadingly implied that it was an official request for payment.  

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 22.1 (Recognising marketing communications and identifying marketers).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.  We asked CAP to inform its members of the problem with CTMD.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)