Ad description
Two ads for a company selling mobility products:
a. A regional press ad seen on 19 April 2011, advertised rise and recline chairs. An image of a label was featured in the corner of the ad, which contained the text "MOBILITY SCOTLAND".
b. A website with the url www.mobility-scot.co.uk visited on 6 September 2011.
Issue
Mobility Scotland Ltd challenged whether the ads were misleading, because they
believed they were likely to confuse consumers about the identity of the advertiser, and took unfair advantage of their company name and reputation.
Response
Chairs and Beds Direct Ltd (Chairs and Beds) said they were not trying to mimic Mobility Scotland Ltd in any way. They said they had asked every newspaper in Scotland whether they were aware of any other company called Mobility Scotland and they had all stated that they were not. They said Mobility Scotland Ltd did not advertise so they did not believe it was misleading to advertise using the name Mobility Scotland, and said they felt Mobility Scotland Ltd were likely to be benefiting from Chairs and Beds' advertising. They said they felt the complaint was likely to have arisen because of the success of Chairs and Beds.
Chairs and Beds said their website was different to Mobility Scotland Ltd and did not imitate them in any way, and said they were quite different companies as Chairs and Beds only offered bespoke beds and chairs. They said there was also a third company called Mobility Scotland that advertised on the web.
Assessment
Upheld
We understood from Mobility Scotland Ltd that they did not advertise in major newspapers, but that they did advertise in trade publications, were well known in their community, and had been operating for many years. We noted that Mobility Scotland Ltd and Chairs and Beds operated in the same area, and therefore considered that customers were likely to see an ad for Chairs and Beds and think it was for Mobility Scotland Ltd.
We noted that the URL for the Chairs and Beds website was www.mobility-scot.co.uk <> and titled "Mobility Scotland", which was similar to Mobility Scotland Ltd's www.mobilityscotlandltd.co.uk <> website. We noted there was no text on the Chairs and Beds website to distinguish their company from Mobility Scotland Ltd, and particularly noted that there was no physical address for the company on the website. We considered that that was likely to make it difficult for customers to know the website was for Chairs and Beds and not Mobility Scotland Ltd.
Because Chairs and Beds was operating in the same area as Mobility Scotland, had a website with a similar URL, and did not make clear on their website that they were a different company, we considered the ads were likely to confuse customers as to the identity of the advertiser, and concluded their advertising was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.41 3.41 Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer about who manufactures the product. and 3.43 3.43 Marketing communications must not take unfair advantage of the reputation of a competitor's trade mark, trade name or other distinguishing mark or of the designation of origin of a competing product. (Imitation and Denigration).
Action
The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Chairs and Beds Direct Ltd not to use a trading name that was likely to cause confusion between them and their competitors.
