Ad description
A radio ad and a poster for NI Auto Trader were broadcast and published in June 2011.
a. The radio ad stated "... search across thousands of local cars on Northern Ireland's most popular motoring website ...".
b. The poster stated "Northern Ireland's busiest used car website ...".
Issue
Used Cars NI Ltd challenged whether the following claims were misleading, because they understood that their website attracted a greater number of visitors than that of NI Auto Trader:
1. "Northern Ireland's most popular motoring website" in ad (a); and
2. "Northern Ireland's busiest used car website" in ad (b).
Response
1. Trader Publishing Ltd t/a Northern Ireland Auto Trader (NI Auto Trader) stated that the data they had obtained in support of the claim in ad (a) was supplied by comScore, an independent provider of digital marketing information. They explained that the technology used by comScore enabled them to compare data from websites that used different analytical reporting systems, which could not otherwise be compared on a like-for-like basis. They said the data provided consisted of monthly traffic figures from May 2010 to June 2011 for the four leading motoring websites in Northern Ireland. NI Auto Trader believed the data demonstrated that they had more visits in total and more unique visitors to their site than their competitors each month and that visitors to their site viewed more pages on average than visitors to their competitors' sites.
The RACC confirmed that they had nothing to add to NI Auto Trader's response.
2. NI Auto Trader stated that they had relied upon the data supplied by comScore to substantiate the claim in ad (b).
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA considered that listeners would understand the claim in ad (a) to mean that NI Auto Trader had more unique visitors each month than their competitors. We noted that NI Auto Trader had obtained data from an independent third party to substantiate the claim, but we understood that ABCe, the industry owned auditor, had not verified that data produced by the third party was prepared to the industry agreed standards defined by the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards in the UK (JICWEBS). Because of that, we considered the data sent by NI Auto Trader was not sufficiently robust to substantiate the claim and we concluded the ad was misleading.
Ad (a) breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.9 3.9 Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation), 3.12 3.12 Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service. (Exaggeration) and 3.38 3.38 Advertisements that include comparisons with unidentifiable competitors must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, consumers. The elements of the comparison must not be selected to give the advertiser an unrepresentative advantage. (Comparisons).
2. Upheld
We considered that readers would understand the claim in ad (b) to mean that NI Auto Trader had more total visits each month than their competitors. Because we understood that the data provided in support of this claim had not been verified as conforming to the JICWEBS standards, we considered it was not sufficiently robust to substantiate the claim and we concluded the ad was misleading.
Ad (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation), 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Exaggeration) and 3.38 3.38 Advertisements that include comparisons with unidentifiable competitors must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, consumers. The elements of the comparison must not be selected to give the advertiser an unrepresentative advantage. (Comparisons).
Action
The radio ad (a) must not be broadcast again in its current form and the poster ad (b) must not appear again in its current form. We told NI Auto Trader not to repeat the claims unless they had relevant website traffic data produced to JICWEBS standards.
