Background

Summary of Council decision:

Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.

Ad description

Three banner ads for uk.justjobs.io seen on YouTube and www.independent.co.uk:

a. The banner ad seen on YouTube on 15 December 2018 stated "TESCO is hiring!" using the font and colours normally used by Tesco. Further text stated "Starting from £23 - £47/hr" followed by an "Apply Now" button. Further text stated "£23 - 47/hr Jobs" followed by the Just Jobs website address and a "VISIT SITE" button.

b. The banner ad seen on www.independent.co.uk on 14 and 19 January 2019 contained identical text and information, plus additional text which stated "Hiring Now - No Experience Required - Full Time & Part Time Jobs".

c. The banner ad seen on 22 December 2018 stated "Royal Mail is hiring!" using the font and colours normally used by Royal Mail. Further text stated "Starting from £15 - 23/hr" followed by an "Apply Now" button. Further text stated "Royal Mail is Hiring Now" followed by another "Apply Now" button.

Issue

Four complainants challenged whether the:

1. rates of pay claimed were misleading and could be substantiated; and

2. ads were advertising genuine vacancies.

Response

Person(s) unknown t/a uk.justjobs.io did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.

Assessment

1. & 2. Upheld

The ASA noted that there was no registered legal entity behind the website uk.justjobs.io and the registrant of the website had used a domain privacy service to set up the website which concealed their identity. We were concerned by justjob.io’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was in breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule  1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code.  (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.

We considered that consumers would understand from the ads that the named businesses were actively recruiting for the stated positions at the stated rates, and that clicking on the “APPLY NOW” or “VISIT SITE” buttons would allow users to begin the application process. Because we had not seen evidence that the advertised vacancies were genuine, we concluded that the ads were likely to mislead.

The ads 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  20.2 20.2 Employment marketing communications must relate to genuine vacancies and potential employees must not be asked to pay for information.
Living and working conditions must not be misrepresented. Quoted earnings must be precise; if one has to be made, a forecast must not be unrepresentative. If income is earned from a basic salary and commission, commission only or in some other way, that must be made clear.
 (Employment).

Action

The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told uk.justjobs.io to ensure that they did not advertise vacancies that were not genuine in future. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

1.7     20.2     3.1     3.7    


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