Ad description
A website, www.18kaweek.com , promoting an internet marketing earnings scheme, seen on 2 November 2017, stated “How To Earn $2,571 + A Day…This Internet Millionaire Wants To “Give You His Money Making Website (The SAME Website That Has Made Him A Millionaire For FREE!”…Just To Prove That His Online Money-Making System Really Works…Over £30,000 In 18 Days!”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether claims “$2,571 + A Day” and “Over $30,000 In 18 Days!” were misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Shaun Smith did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Shaun Smith’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code 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 him of his responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries and told him to do so in future.
The ASA considered that consumers would interpret the claims “$2,571 + A Day” and “Over $30,000 In 18 Days!” in the context of the ad, to imply that the stated amounts were representative of what could be earned through the website 18kaweek.com. In the absence of evidence to demonstrate that the earnings claims stated in the ads were representative of the likely returns a consumer could expect, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
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), 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), 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 in its current form. We told Shaun Smith to remove the earnings claims from the ad, unless he held sufficient evidence to substantiate them. We referred the matter on to CAP’s compliance team.
