Background

Summary of Council decision:

Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.

Ad description

An ad on Gumtree for First Step Modelling seen on 25 February 2017 featured text that stated “CASTING NOW! Girls and Guys wanted for part time Modelling, Acting, dancing works … Contract type Temporary … Description We are currently looking for good looking Male and Female faces for magazines, catalogues, TV commercials, TV shows, billboards, posters, film/TV extras and Music Videos. We are an agency who work at discovering and promoting new talents within the entertainment industry. We have decided to given [sic] an opportunity to new models and talents. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone wanting to give a go at modelling or wanting to develop their modelling career …”. Below this was further text that quoted specific pay ranges and “Please note: There is [sic] no registration fees or joining fees”.

Issue

Clive Hurst, who understood that the advertiser was not an employment agency but offered a photography portfolio service at a cost, challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:

1. The various paid jobs on offer; and

2. “There is [sic] no registration fees or joining fees”.

Response

1. & 2. First Step Modelling t/a firststepmodelling.com stated that the ad was posted on Gumtree on 25 February 2017, but was removed within 24 hours after they realised they had made a mistake in claiming that they were an “agency”.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA understood that firststepmodelling.com was not an employment agency, but a company which offered a photography portfolio service at a cost, and that they had removed the ad within 24 hours after it was posted on Gumtree after realising they had made a mistake in claiming that they were an “agency”.

Referring to the ad, we considered that along with the text “We are an agency”, there were many other references which consumers would interpret to mean that firststepmodelling.com was an employment agency offering jobs within the entertainment industry. This included: “CASTING NOW! Girls and Guys wanted for part time Modelling, Acting, dancing works”, “Contract type Temporary”, “We have decided to given [sic] an opportunity to new models and talents. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone wanting to give a go at modelling or wanting to develop their modelling career” and “There is [sic] no registration fees or joining fees”.

firststepmodelling.com did not provide any documentary evidence showing that they were an employment agency and given that we understood that they were in fact, offering a photography portfolio service at a cost, we concluded that the claims regarding the jobs on offer had not been substantiated and were misleading.

On that point 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) and  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).

2. Upheld

Because we considered the ad was promoting firststepmodelling.com as an employment agency, consumers would interpret the claim “There is [sic] no registration fees or joining fees” to mean that if they were successful, they would become an agency worker for firststepmodelling.com and would not incur such fees upon their enrolment.

However, we understood that this was not the case because firststepmodelling.com was not an employment agency, but a company which offered a photography portfolio service at a cost.

Therefore, because of that, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.

On that point 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) and  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).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told firststepmodelling.com that their future advertising must not state or suggest that they were an employment agency unless that was the case.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.7    


More on