ASA Adjudication on The Bradford Exchange Ltd
The Bradford Exchange Ltd
Boothen Old Road
Stoke-On-Trent
Staffordshire
ST4 4RX
Date:
29 August 2012
Media:
National press
Sector:
Retail
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A12-202136
Ad
A press ad for an online retailer featured a watch. Text stated "The Limited-edition PRIDE OF ENGLAND 18-carat Gold Men's Watch ... Capturing the pride of the English Nation ... Raised 18-carat gold three-lion design ... Watch strap and casing richly plated in 18-carat gold ...". Further text stated "Three raised 18-carat gold-plated lions feature on the watch face of the stainless steel, gold-plated timepiece".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the description of the product as an "18-carat gold men's watch" was misleading, because further text stated that the watch was gold-plated.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
The Bradford Exchange Ltd (The Bradford Exchange) apologised for the error and said the ad had since been changed. They submitted a copy of the amended ad.
Assessment
Upheld
The amended ad indicated that the claims "18-carat gold" had been amended to "18-carat gold-plated". However, the ASA was concerned that The Bradford Exchange had repeated the misleading claim after agreeing to replace references to gold with gold-plated during the course of a previous investigation.
Because the watch was gold-plated the claim "18-carat gold men's watch" was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.11 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told The Bradford Exchange not to claim that their products were "18-carat gold" if they were not.
