Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A national press ad and website promoted Tru-Diamonds:
a. The press ad featured a selection of jewellery items for sale. Text in a central box stated "Now, Tru-Diamonds™ Makes Luxury Even More Affordable with this Super Savings Sale Tru-Diamonds™, the amazing man-made gems that give you the look ... of the finest quality mined diamonds at a small fraction of the price ... and nobody knows the difference". Items included "Tzarina Katarina Ring SALE PRICE ONLY £48 SAVE 50% ... 18ct. Gold ... Platinum ... EASY-PAY* 3 X £16 ..." and "Trilogy Ring SALE PRICE ONLY £79 SAVE 20% ... 18ct. Gold ... Platinum ... EASY-PAY* 3 X £26.33".
Footnote text stated "*Tru-Diamonds™ rings are in 18ct. Gold or Platinum clad over a solid core of sterling silver, set with superlative Tru-Diamonds™ cz simulated diamonds ...".
b. Text on the "Tru Insider" page of www.trudiamonds.co.uk stated "’They look so real’ Our jewellers at Tru-Diamonds™ are hard at work designing and hand crafting affordable jewellery that looks and feels like the real thing ... we've created a product that looks like the real-deal but at a fraction of the price ...". A table compared features of Tru-Diamonds products with "Mined Diamonds". Text stated "Solitaire Ring (1ct) 18ct. Gold Clad" and showed the price respectively as "£99" and "£8,500 or more".
A selection of products were featured on the page, including "2.75ct. Pristine Solitaire Ring 18ct. Gold* ... Platinum* ..." and "2ct. Solitaire Ring 18ct. Gold* ... Platinum* ...". A click through link labelled "SHOP NOW" was attached to each product.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the product descriptions "18ct. Gold" and "Platinum" in:
1. ad (a); and
2. ad (b);
were misleading, because the products were sterling silver and clad with either gold or platinum.
Response
1. & 2. Monark Global Ltd t/a Tru-Diamonds (Tru-Diamonds) stated that ad (a) did explain that "*Tru-Diamonds rings are in 18ct. Gold or Platinum clad over a solid core of sterling silver ...", however, they said the typesetter had erroneously omitted the asterisks which should have appeared alongside every mention of the words "18 ct. Gold" and "Platinum". They believed that the inclusion of the asterisks would have ensured that readers were aware of the disclosure at the bottom of the ad. They provided an amended version of the ad.
They also explained that, in ad (b), the asterisks had been included alongside the words "18ct. Gold" and "Platinum", but that the blog editor had neglected to include the disclosure "*Tru-Diamonds rings are in 18ct. Gold or Platinum clad over a solid core of sterling silver ...". They again asserted that if the disclosure had been present, it would have eliminated any possibility of readers being misled. They said they had edited the relevant blog post and would exercise all reasonable care to ensure that the error was not repeated in future.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA understood that text at the bottom of the ad stated "*Tru-Diamonds rings are in 18ct. Gold or Platinum clad over a solid core of sterling silver ...". We understood that Tru-Diamonds had intended for an asterisk to appear alongside every mention of the words "18 ct. Gold" and "Platinum", but that those had been omitted because of a typesetting error, and that they believed that if the asterisks had been present then consumers would have been aware of the disclosure and the fact that the rings were not solid 18ct gold or platinum.
We considered the fact that the rings were clad with 18ct gold or platinum was material information which would influence whether an individual decided to purchase a Tru-Diamonds product or not. We noted that the qualifying text was very small and appeared as a footnote at the bottom of the ad. In addition, we considered that even if the asterisks had appeared alongside the descriptors "18ct. Gold" and "Platinum", consumers may still not have seen or read the qualifying text at the bottom of the ad. We therefore considered that text stating that the products were gold or platinum clad, and not solid, should have appeared in the main body of the ad, or that every mention of "18ct. Gold" and "Platinum" should have been amended to state "18ct. Gold clad" or "Platinum clad", to ensure consumers were not misled.
Because we considered that the ad did not clearly communicate that the products were clad with gold or platinum, but instead implied that they were solid 18ct gold or solid platinum, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
On that point, ad (a) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
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.
and
3.4.1
3.4.1
the main characteristics of the product
(Misleading advertising),
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
3.10
3.10
Qualifications must be presented clearly.
CAP has published a Help Note on Claims that Require Qualification.
(Qualification) and
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration).
2. Upheld
The ASA acknowledged that due to an error Tru-Diamonds had not included the disclaimer "*Tru-Diamonds rings are in 18ct. Gold or Platinum clad over a solid core of sterling silver ..." on the blog page. We noted that the table on the page included the text "Solitaire Ring (1ct) 18 ct. Gold Clad", however, we also noted that further down the page where various products were featured, text stated "18ct. Gold*" or "Platinum*" only. We considered that a number of consumers who visited the page could scroll through to the individual product listings and would not see the one reference to "Gold Clad". We noted that Tru-Diamonds had since amended the post to include the disclaimer, but, as mentioned in point 1, we considered that the fact the products were gold or platinum clad was material information which should have been clearly communicated to customers in the main body of the post, or that the products should have been described as "18ct. Gold Clad" or "Platinum Clad" consistently throughout the blog.
Because we considered that the blog entry did not clearly communicate that the products were clad with gold or platinum, but instead implied that they were solid 18ct gold or solid platinum, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
On that point, ad (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
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.
and
3.4.1
3.4.1
the main characteristics of the product
(Misleading advertising),
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
3.10
3.10
Qualifications must be presented clearly.
CAP has published a Help Note on Claims that Require Qualification.
(Qualification) and
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration).
Action
The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Tru-Diamonds to ensure they did not imply that their products were made from solid gold or platinum, if that was not the case.
