Ad description

The website www.churchillshomecare.co.uk, for stair lifts, stated "Churchill's HomeCare Freedom Stairlifts Range … Our commitment is our guaranteed buyback on all our stairlifts, which only Churchill's HomeCare offers".

Issue

Acorn Mobility Services Ltd challenged whether the claim "our guaranteed buyback on all our stairlifts which only Churchill's HomeCare offers" was misleading and could be substantiated.

Response

Churchill's HomeCare Ltd said that they would remove the claim "guaranteed buyback on all our stairlifts, which only Churchill's HomeCare offers".

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that despite the assurance from Churchill's HomeCare that the claim would be removed, it continued to appear in their advertising albeit in a revised form. We considered the revised wording, such as "… we also offer all our customers a unique buyback guarantee and are the only stairlift supplier in the UK to do so" retained the meaning of the original claim. We therefore considered that the claim could encourage consumers to contact Churchill's HomeCare rather than another company to purchase a stairlift. We also considered that the claim was an objective one which must be supported with adequate evidence, for example, based on proactive monitoring of the market to ensure Churchill's HomeCare were the only company that offered a guarantee to “buyback” their stairlifts. Because we had not seen evidence that Churchill's HomeCare were the only supplier to offer a “guaranteed buyback” on all their stairlifts, we concluded the claim was misleading and had not been substantiated.

The ad 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  3.33 3.33 Marketing communications that include a comparison with an identifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer about either the advertised product or the competing product.  (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Churchill's HomeCare Ltd not to make claims that they were the only company to offer a particular service such as guaranteed buyback, if that was not the case.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.33     3.7    


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