Ad description
A leaflet for Dove Home Projects Ltd featured four customer testimonials, two of which stated respectively "Very tidy, turned up & completed the job on time" and "I would highly recommend Dove to family and friends".
Issue
The complainant, who believed that two of the testimonials related to the company under its previous owner, challenged whether the testimonials were genuine and related to the company under its current administration.
Response
Dove Home Projects Ltd provided an undated letter from the customer in the first testimonial that stated "[the staff member] turned up on time and tidied up nicely". They also stated that they had altered their advertising to remove the second testimonial objected to by the complainant and provided us with a copy of the new ad with an amended testimonial section.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged that Dove Home Projects had taken steps to remove one of the testimonials from their advertising. However, we noted that they had not provided evidence to demonstrate that these testimonials were from customers who had used the business under its current management, and that the letter in support of the first testimonial did not carry any indication of when it had been received. We also noted that the first testimonial was paraphrased considerably from the original client letter and considered that it differed significantly by referring to the job being completed on time, rather than the staff member arriving on time, which was likely to be of importance to prospective customers. Finally, we noted that no evidence relating to the veracity of the second testimonial was provided by Dove Home Projects. Because we had not seen evidence to demonstrate that the testimonials were genuine and from customers of the current business we concluded that the ad was misleading.
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. and 3.46 3.46 Testimonials must relate to the advertised product. (Endorsements and Testimonials).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Dove Home Projects Ltd to ensure that any future testimonials would be quoted accurately and supported by documentary evidence of their veracity and applicability to the business.
