Ad description
The website www.ppsgroupuk.com, for Packaged Pump Systems, a company that supplied and maintained water pumps and related equipment for the building services market, seen on 5 July 2016, contained text which stated "... we are responsible for keeping 70% of London's newly converted basements nice and dry".
Issue
Newton Waterproofing Systems challenged whether the claim that Packaged Pump Systems' engineers "keep over 70% of London's newly converted basements nice and dry" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Packaged Pump Systems Ltd said they were willing to make changes to their ad. They supplied information showing the number of visits they had attended and the number of customers who had received a visit in the preceding 12 months.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA welcomed Packaged Pump Systems' willingness to amend their advertising. We noted that the claim appeared under the heading "packaged pump systems" in the context of the text "We are able to service packaged pumping stations, submersible pumps, booster sets and rainwater harvesting units and we are responsible for keeping over 70% of London's newly converted basements nice and dry". Given that context, we considered readers were likely to interpret the claim to mean that Packaged Pump Systems knew the number of newly converted basements in London and that their engineers were responsible for fitting and maintaining pumps in 70% of them, which kept them dry. Packaged Pump Systems supplied information which showed the number of visits they attended and the number of customers who had received a visit. They had, however, supplied no information that showed the number of newly converted basements in London; the number that needed pumps to keep them dry; or the number that Packaged Pump Systems were responsible for maintaining. We considered Packaged Pump Systems had therefore not substantiated the claim and concluded that it was likely to mislead.
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 Packaged Pump Systems Ltd to ensure they held adequate evidence for objective claims in future.
