Ad description

A regional press ad for Stephen McCosh Funeral Director, seen in August 2018, featured the heading "Stephen McCosh FUNERAL DIRECTOR" underneath which were the post-nominal letters "Dip.F.D. Dip.F.S. M.B.I.F.D" followed by the claim "Northern Ireland's most qualified funeral director".

Issue

Dignity Funerals Ltd challenged whether the claim "Northern Ireland's most qualified funeral director" was misleading and could be substantiated.

Response

Stephen McCosh Funeral Directors Ltd said that in the funeral industry there were two formally recognised qualifications – the Diploma in Funeral Services (Dip.F.S.) certified by the British Institute of Funeral Directors, and the Diploma in Funeral Directors (Dip.F.D.) certified by the National Association of Funeral Directors. They said the former was the highest level of Diploma. They also said some funeral directors in Northern Ireland held one or other of those qualifications, but Stephen McCosh was the only person to hold both.

Assessment

Upheld

We considered that consumers would understand the claim “Northern Ireland’s most qualified funeral director” to mean that Stephen McCosh had more advanced qualifications than any other funeral director in Northern Ireland.

We had not been provided with evidence showing that Stephen McCosh was the only funeral director in Northern Ireland to hold both the DipFD and the DipFS qualifications. We also understood that the DipFD was a level 3 qualification – equivalent to A level; and the DipFS was a level 4 qualification – equivalent to a Higher National Certificate (HNC). Though we acknowledged that Stephen McCosh held both of those qualifications, we considered that the DipFS likely built on the skills learnt in the DipFD, meaning that an individual who held both would not necessarily have been more qualified than an individual who held just the level 4 DipFS qualification.

For that reason, and because Stephen McCosh Funeral Directors had been unable to show that their competitors did not hold the same level of qualifications as Stephen McCosh, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and 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), and  3.33 3.33 Marketing communications that include a comparison with an identifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer about either the advertised product or the competing product.  (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Stephen McCosh Funeral Directors Ltd not to claim that Stephen McCosh was more qualified than all other funeral directors in Northern Ireland unless they could demonstrate that was the case.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.33     3.7    


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