Background
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A circular for 3 Solar UK Ltd a solar panel installer, delivered in October 2015, stated "I CALLED TODAY REGARDING YOUR FREE SOLAR PANEL INSTALLATION ... BENEFIT'S ... FREE ENERGY FOR LIFE, (£650+ PER ANNUM) INCREASED PROPERTY VALUE ...". The circular included the Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd logo.
Issue
Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd (REAL) challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
1. "FREE ENERGY FOR LIFE, (£650+ PER ANNUM)", and
2. "INCREASED PROPERTY VALUE".
They also challenged whether:
3. the use of their logo on the circular was misleading, because they understood that 3 Solar UK had no connection to REAL.
Response
3 Solar UK acknowledged the complaint, but did not respond further to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
1., 2. & 3. Upheld
The ASA noted that 3 Solar UK had acknowledged the complaint, but we were concerned by their lack of any further response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code. (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We noted we had seen no evidence to show that solar installation would provide free energy for life or increase property values or that 3 Solar UK had any connection to REAL. For that reason, we considered that the claims "FREE ENERGY FOR LIFE, (£650+ PER ANNUM)" and "INCREASED PROPERTY VALUE" and the use of the REAL logo had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading and breached the Code.
The circular 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 3.50 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 circular must not appear again in its current form. We told 3 Solar UK to ensure that they held evidence to substantiate claims in their advertising and not to display the REAL logo without the necessary authorisation. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
