ASA Adjudication on Westminster Recliners
Westminster Recliners
Unit 1, Gamma Terrace
Master Lord Office Village
Ipswich
IP3 9FF
Date:
12 September 2012
Media:
National press
Sector:
Household
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A12-198399
Ad
A national press ad, for a furniture retailer, stated "28 years manufacturing experience".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "28 years manufacturing experience" was misleading and could be substantiated, because he believed the company was only incorporated in March 2011 and that they did not manufacture the products they supplied.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
Westminster Recliners (WR) said they did not believe the claim was misleading, because their contract manufacturer was established in 1981 and therefore had in excess of 28 year's manufacturing experience.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged the products supplied by WR may have been manufactured by a party with the relevant amount of experience, but we considered that the ad implied that WR manufactured the products they sold and therefore they had 28 years’ experience. Because that was not the case, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told WR to ensure they did not imply that they manufactured the products they supplied, when this was not the case.
