Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
Mini coolers are electrical devices that are intended to cool the air around them, and are often compact and portable.
Substantiation
Marketers are reminded that they require robust evidence for any and all objective claims in their cooler ads.
In 2025, the ASA investigated the claim “It works perfectly in spaces up to 398 square feet” in an ad for a mini cooler. The advertisers provided no evidence for the claim, so it was considered misleading (UAB Rara Digital t/a Airabreeze, 26 November 2025).
The ASA also investigated the claim “Cool Any Room in Seconds. Plug in, power on, chill fast. Can this tiny cooler deliver?” for a BrizaAC cooling unit. In this instance, the marketer, Ecom7, said they were responsible for the product, but they did not manage or operate the advertising campaigns, and therefore provided no evidence to the ASA to substantiate the claims. Although a third party was responsible for creating the ad, Ecom7 had responsibility for ensuring their ads complied with the CAP Code – in the absence of evidence that the product could “cool any room in seconds”, the ad breached the Code (Ecom7 Ltd, 26 November 2025).
Efficiency/money saving claims
Many ads for mini coolers state that the product is either energy efficient, or can save money vs. more traditional cooling devices. Advertisers should ensure that they hold robust evidence for these claims, which may include comparative evidence against other devices.
The ASA has previously looked into claims that a mini cooler could “cool any room fast for almost zero cost” and “can cool homes fast”, along with claims that it could save “thousands in electricity bills”. The ASA considered that consumers would interpret those claims to mean that the mini cooler could rapidly cool any typical room in a house in an economical and cost-effective manner. They also considered that it was highly unlikely that a small portable electric fan cooler would be a viable source of efficient cooling for most rooms, and received no evidence to support claims of cost effectiveness (Hydrochill, 26 November 2025).
Similarly, the ASA has upheld cases where ads stated that mini coolers could “cool… rooms instantly at a fraction of the cost”, “chill an entire room in minutes, giving you fresh, cool air for almost zero cost”, (UAB CommerceCore t/a NuraBreeze, 26 November 2025) along with “cools any room in 90 seconds for nearly zero cost” and “Genius Portable Cooler Keeps Your Home Cool & Saves You Money” (UAB Rara Digital t/a Airabreeze, 26 November 2025).
Comparisons to air conditioners
Whilst marketers of mini cooler products are not prohibited from referencing air conditioners in their ads, marketers must remember that such references are likely to be taken to mean that the cooler product is a viable alternative to air conditioners. With that in mind, all claims must be accurate and marketers must hold robust evidence that shows their product is genuinely comparable to air conditioners. CAP has yet to see evidence that mini coolers can match or surpass the capabilities of other cooling units.
In the aforementioned cases, the ASA investigated the claims “This revolutionary portable air cooling device can cool homes fast, and it uses a fraction of the energy that commercial air conditioners require” (Hydrochill, 26 November 2025), “it uses 90% less energy than traditional air conditioning systems”, “…blows away anything a regular air conditioning system can do”, “whether you’ve already got air conditioning or not, Airabreeze is a much cheaper and equally effective alternative” (UAB Rara Digital t/a Airabreeze, 26 November 2025) and “It’s 98.7% cheaper than traditional air conditioners” (UAB CommerceCore t/a NuraBreeze, 26 November 2025). However, none of the advertisers cold demonstrate that their product could supply the equivalent cooling capabilities of any other cooling systems, such as traditional air conditioning systems, at a cheaper price or by using less energy.
See also Electric Plug-In Heaters, Comparisons: General, Comparisons: Identifiable Competitors and Types of Claim: No 1