Ad description

The website, www.theknowledgeacademy.com, for training courses, stated "Scrum Master Certification - Scrum Master Training".  Under the tab "Course Overview" the website stated "The Knowledge Academy's Certified Scrum Master course ...".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the website was misleading because it implied the course was affiliated with Scrum Alliance.

Response

The Knowledge Academy Ltd said the Scrum Master qualification had no association or affiliation with any other training provider, for example the Scrum Alliance. They said their course was their own intellectual property and was their own proprietary qualification and the ad explicitly referenced their own Certified Scrum Master course and had not mentioned Scrum Alliance or any other training provider.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted that the Knowledge Academy's web page was clearly headed with their own logo and branding which we noted was different from that of Scrum Alliance.  We also noted that under the tab titled "Course Overview", the website stated "The Knowledge Academy's Certified Scrum Master course" and we considered that consumers would understand that it was the Knowledge Academy's own course that they offered.  Because the websites branding was clearly distinct from Scrum Alliance's advertising and it made clear that it was their own training that was offered, we concluded it was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  and  3.3 3.3 Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
 (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),  3.43 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) and  3.50 3.50 Marketing communications must not display a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation. Marketing communications must not claim that the marketer (or any other entity referred to), the marketing communication or the advertised product has been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it has not or without complying with the terms of the approval, endorsement or authorisation.  (Endorsements and testimonials), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.3     3.43     3.50     3.7    


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