Ad description
A direct mailing for Bill Plant, a driving school, stated "CPD and Induction Courses At No Extra Cost".
Issue
A complainant, an ex-franchisee of Bill Plant, challenged whether the claim "CPD and Induction Courses At No Extra Cost" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Bill Plant said they employed a full-time training manager whose responsibility was to organise and run Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and induction courses which were offered to franchise instructors. They said there was no requirement for a qualified driving instructor to undertake CPD courses and that, while some took the opportunity to take the courses, others did not. They supplied an example of a "New starter form" sent to new franchise instructors which asked them to indicate which CPD courses they wished to attend; a list of the CPD courses which had been taken since September 2012; and copies of "no charge" invoices issued to franchise instructors who had completed courses since 1 May 2013.
Assessment
Not upheld
The complainant had challenged the claim that CPD courses were supplied to franchisees at no extra cost because, when previously a franchisee, he had not received them. The ASA considered, however, that the information Bill Plant had supplied showed that franchisees were offered and had attended CPD courses and had not been required to pay additional costs for them. Because of that, we concluded that Bill Plant had substantiated the claim and that it was not misleading.
We investigated the ad under 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), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
