JML Direct Ltd JML House Regis Road London NW5 3EG Number of complaints: 1

Date: 25 June 2008 Media: Television Sector: Household Agency: John Mills Limited

Ad
A TV ad, for the Nicer Dicer, stated "Love to cook but hate the time and hassle of preparation and cleanup? You need the Nicer Dicer from JML. Look how perfectly it dices this tomato. And these onions are chopped in no time with no tears. The secret is the ultra sharp unique blade design which chops 35 times with each press. Healthy snacks, julienne slices, even home made fries, the Nicer Dicer from JML does it all ...". The ad showed the product being used to slice and dice various foods.

Issue
A viewer, who believed food to be diced in the product had to be sliced beforehand, challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that the product could dice whole foods.

BCAP TV Advertising Code:

5.1;5.2.1;5.2.2;5.2.3

Response
Clearcast said the ad showed the end results that could be achieved with the Nicer Dicer. They said JML Direct had assumed, not unreasonably in their view, that most consumers would understand from the simple design of the product that food must be sliced before it could be diced. They sent a sample of the product.

Assessment
Upheld
The ASA tested the Nicer Dicer. We noted that, while the product was capable of dealing with whole foods, it did not dice the food into cube shapes but merely seemed to slice it; that result was the same for food cut in half. We noted that, for the product to dice food into cube shapes, food would first have to be sliced into roughly the thickness of the desired cube.

We considered that the composition of the ad, particularly the name 'Nicer Dicer', the claims "Love to cook but hate the time and hassle of preparation and cleanup" and "Look how perfectly it dices this tomato", accompanied by an image of a tomato cut in cube shapes, implied that whole fruit and vegetables, or at least food cut in half, could be diced into cube shapes. Because it could not, and because it did not show that food had to be sliced before it could be diced, we considered that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.2 (Implications) and 5.2.3 (Qualifications).

Action
The ad must not be shown again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)