Ad description
A website for Queens Park Letting Flats, www.queensparkltc.co.uk, included a web page headed "Guest Reviews" which featured a list of reviews dated between June and October 2013. Each review featured a picture of a person next to it.
Issue
The complainant, who believed that some of the pictures were sourced from other websites, challenged whether the testimonials were genuine.
Response
Queens Park Hotel Group Ltd did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Queens Park Hotel Group Ltd's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code. (Unreasonably delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We noted that some of the pictures of people featured next to the testimonials appeared to be exact matches of pictures featured on other websites, including a picture that appeared to have been sourced from a news article. We had not been provided with evidence that the testimonials were genuine and we therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.
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), 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) and 3.45 3.45 Marketers must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial or endorsement used in a marketing communication is genuine, unless it is obviously fictitious, and hold contact details for the person who, or organisation that, gives it. (Endorsements and testimonials).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
