Ad description
Ads on eBay for various scarf wraps stated "Pashmina Scarf Wrap Shawl 55% pashmina 45% silk".
Issue
The complainant, who understood the products were made from synthetic materials, challenged whether the claim "55% pashmina 45% silk" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
ginlandy did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by ginlandy's lack of substantive response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
Upheld
We noted that we had not seen any evidence that the products advertised were made from pashmina and silk.
Therefore, in the absence of evidence to substantiate the claim, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached 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) and
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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told ginlandy not to claim that their products were made from pashmina and silk if that was not the case. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance Team.
