Ad description
A paid-for Facebook post from Smart Life, seen in July 2018, featured a video of a light sabre toy. Text stated "Oh my god! this is sooo cool!! get your's [sic] here" followed by a link to a product listing on www.creative-mall.com.
The listing showed an image of a light sabre toy on a stand. Text stated “Includes stand for ultimate collectability…Realistic light effects…7 color transformations: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet…Authentic movie sound effects…Collector grade quality…Includes lightsaber and instructions".
Issue
The complainant, who had received a product that differed significantly from the one shown in the ad, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Qandies Ltd did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Qandies Ltd’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We noted that the product received by the complainant was significantly different from the one shown and described in the ad. For example, it did not come with a stand or instructions and it did not change colour. We concluded that the ad was misleading and breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
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.
(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
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Qandies Ltd not to exaggerate the characteristics and features of their products in their advertising. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.
