ASA Adjudication on Kingfisher TMB Ltd

Ad

A radio ad and a catalogue for a builder and tradesman's merchants. a) The radio ad stated "OK, you have two choices. Tell your customers, 'yeah 'course I can fit your top quality kitchen and bathroom for you, in twelve weeks time...', or, 'Of course I can start fitting your top quality bathroom and kitchen, tomorrow, because I can get it off the shelf at Trade Depot'. Huh, it's a no brainer isn't it? All Trade Depot products are in stock, in volume, all the time and we'll beat any quote you get elsewhere. Trade Depot - open seven days a week to trade and public..." b) The catalogue stated "We buy in big quantities to make sure that everything you need is always in stock, in volume" and "We always have what you need, because we hold £1/2m of products in stock at any one time."

Issue

The complainant, who had visited the store several times and found the items he wanted out of stock, objected that the claims were misleading.

CAP Code

BCAP Radio Code

Response

B&Q replied on behalf of Trade Depot. They said both B&Q and Trade Depot were subsidiary trading companies of Kingfisher plc but that Trade Depot was about to cease trading. B&Q said that the supply chain team at Trade Depot had confirmed that on the relevant dates mentioned by the complainant they had over 99% shelf availability of the 7500 lines across the estate. They said they believed the two products which the complainant had specifically mentioned were isolated issues. They said the initial systems report showed that stock of the two items was good at all the other branches of Trade Depot. B&Q said they were awaiting a product availability report from Trade Depot and would forward it.

Tindle Radio responded on behalf of Kestrel FM. They said it was an oversight that the copy for the radio ad had not been cleared with the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) and that they would tighten up their procedures to ensure this did not happen again.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted B&Q's assertion that Trade Depot had over 99% shelf availability of their 7500 lines at the store on the dates mentioned by the complainant. However we did not receive the documentary evidence to show that the products the complainant wanted were in stock. We noted the radio stated "All Trade Depot products are in stock, in volume, all the time" and the catalogue stated "everything you need is always in stock, in volume", and "We always have what you need" and concluded that B&Q had not justified the claims.

The radio ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Code rule 2-3 (Misleading advertising).

The catalogue breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ads must not appear again in their current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)