Ad description
An e-mail, which was sent to members of the British Institute of Cleaning Science, had the subject line "British Institute of Cleaning Science". Text in the main body of the e-mail stated "A special offer for all British Institute of Cleaning Science Members ... £99 For a 3 Page Website only for BICS members" and small print at the bottom stated "Copyright © 2014 Evil Carrot Studio, All rights reserved. British Institute of Cleaning Science".
Issue
The British Institute of Cleaning Science challenged whether the ad took unfair advantage of the reputation of their trading name, and misleadingly implied that they endorsed the service promoted.
Response
Evil Carrot Studios did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Evil Carrot Studios' lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and we told them to do so in future.
We considered that the references to the British Institute of Cleaning Science and the fact that the e-mail was sent to its members were likely to be understood by recipients to mean that they endorsed the service promoted. As we understood this was not the case, we 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.
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) and
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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Evil Carrot Studios not to imply that other companies or organisations endorsed their service if that was not the case.
