Ad description

A brochure for a company, Forever Living Products, promoting business opportunities for potential distributors featured text on the front cover that stated, “Forever Living Products … where ordinary people achieve extraordinary results”. The brochure featured a section called “THE FOREVER STORY” and at the bottom of those pages showed the “INVESTORS IN PEOPLE” gold logo.

Issue

The complainant, who understood that the advertiser’s “Investors in People” accreditation was only given for their employee training, challenged whether the brochure misleadingly implied that it also applied to the training given to its distributors.

Response

Forever Living Products (UK) Ltd confirmed that the Investors in People accreditation applied to employees of the company. However, they stated that when the company originally received this accreditation in 2003, both their employees and business owners (distributors) were interviewed and the latter were also considered to be within the scope of the assessment and subsequent accreditation. Thirty business owners were formally interviewed and a further 12 had informal conversations regarding the training and support network Forever Living Products offered.

In 2010, the scope of the Investors in People assessment changed and only took into account the employees of the company. However, Forever Living Products stated that the practices and policies in respect of business owners had not changed since 2003. They stated that the Investors in People accreditation supported the company's ethos towards training, developing and supporting everyone who was involved with the company. They explained that the role of their employees was to support the business owners and, by investing in them, they were providing a valuable resource and support network for all their business owners.

Forever Living Products further stated that the Investors in People accreditation did not just apply to employee training, but related to a wide variety of policies and procedures implemented by the company.

They explained that the brochure was available at meetings that were targeted at people who were interested in becoming one of their business owners. They stated that the Investors in People symbol was only displayed on two pages, which generally explained the profile and history of the company and promoted its achievements. In that context, they believed that the use of the symbol did not suggest that it applied to its business owners and would not be interpreted as such by the average reader.

Forever Living Products stated that they approached the Investors in People Compliance Unit to obtain their advice on the use of the Investors in People Gold logo in the brochure. They confirmed that had been correctly displayed in the context in which they were used.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted that the front cover of the brochure stated “Forever Living Products … where ordinary people achieve extraordinary results”. We noted that inside the brochure was a section called “THE FOREVER STORY” and at the bottom of those pages showed the “INVESTORS IN PEOPLE” gold logo. Furthermore, the brochure included information regarding how Forever Living Products distributed their products through their agents as well as remuneration details. Towards the end of the brochure, we noted that there was a section called "TO HELP YOU" and featured the claim "Award winning training and support" and on the following page, was further text that stated "Learn and develop new skills".

We acknowledged that Forever Living Products stated that the Investors in People symbol appeared in their brochure to promote the company’s history and achievements and that they did not believe it suggested that the award was given in respect of how they invested in their business owners. However, given that the brochure was specifically targeted at potential business owners and set out the prospects of becoming a Forever Living Products agent, as well as the help that they would receive, we considered it implied that Forever Living Products had been awarded the accreditation for the support and training they provided for their business owners.

The ASA contacted the Investors in People, which confirmed that the use of the Investors in People Gold logo in the brochure was correctly displayed in the context in which it was used. The Investors in People stated that the accreditation, which they confirmed for continuation after an on-site review in 2015, related to the activities of the head office of Forever Living in Warwick and the three small distribution centres at Leamington Spa, Milton Keynes and London. They stated that it applied to the activities conducted at Forever Living Products’ head office, including the design, delivery and evaluation of training for the company’s self-employed distributors and agents, as well as its employees. Furthermore, they stated that they did not have an issue with the brochure’s claim that Forever Living Products offered “Award winning training and support”.

Therefore, because the Investors in People confirmed that the Gold accreditation logo applied to the training FLP’s head office provided for both their employees and agents, we concluded that the brochure was not misleading.

We investigated under CAP Code (Edition 12) rule  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading Advertising) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1    


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