Ad description
A website for Whinrigg Caravan Storage, www.whinriggcaravanstorage.co.uk, seen on 26 April 2017 included the text “We take pride in our site, which was awarded gold status by CASSOA in 2005. The site, which is well above CASSOA standards, may qualify our customers for discounts from many insurance companies, if they inform them of the security arrangements in place”.
Issue
The Caravan Storage Site Owners Association (CASSOA), who said that Whinrigg Caravan Storage was not a member of CASSOA, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Whinrigg Caravan Storage said they did not believe that the claim was misleading and their site did receive gold status from CASSOA in 2005. They further said that they received a gold star in 2011 and believed that they were entitled to inform their customers that the site met those standards. They also said that they had a notice on their office wall informing customers that they were no longer members and they also informed people who they spoke to on the phone.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would interpret the claim that the site “was awarded gold status by CASSOA in 2005. The site, which is well above CASSOA standards …” to mean that the advertiser was a member of CASSOA in 2005 and that the site still met the organisation’s standards. In that context, in the absence of information to the contrary, we considered consumers would understand that that they were still a member. We understood that the site had previously been awarded gold status by CASSOA. However, we also noted that the advertiser was, at the time of the complaint, no longer a member of the organisation. On that basis, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.50 3.50 Marketing communications must not display a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation. Marketing communications must not claim that the marketer (or any other entity referred to), the marketing communication or the advertised product has been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it has not or without complying with the terms of the approval, endorsement or authorisation. (Endorsements and testimonials).
Action
The claim must not appear again in its current form. We told Whinrigg Caravan Storage to ensure they did not state or imply that they were a member of a body if that was not the case.
