Ad description
An online listing for a cottage on http://www.sykescottages.co.uk, seen in March 2017 stated, “the excellent pub next door offers fine ale and an excellent menu”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that the pub had been closed for over a year, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Sykes Cottages Ltd did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Sykes Cottages 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 respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would expect from the information in the ad that there was a pub next door and that this would affect the decision of a significant proportion of consumers regarding staying in the cottage. As there was not a pub next door we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.1 (Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Sykes Cottages Ltd to ensure that its listings were up to date and accurately reflected consumers’ likely experiences. We referred the matter to the CAP compliance team.
