Ad description
An eBay product page marketing a “Cyclone Power Sweep Chimney DIY Kit Flexible Nylon Rods Full Kit sold by AC Products Ltd, seen in May 2017 stated "*****These Rods are Manufactured in Britain … Purchase from a small UK Chimney Sweeping Manufacturing company Support British jobs. We Thank you!***** …”.
Issue
Sourcing4u, who said they sold the same product which was made and imported from China, challenged whether the claim “These Rods are Manufactured in Britain … Purchase from a small UK Chimney Sweeping Manufacturing company Support British jobs” was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
AC Products Ltd t/a chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk stated that the chimney DIY kit was imported from China and came with nylon rods. However, they removed the fittings from the nylon rods at their premises and replaced the rods with ones that they had purchased from a UK based company, which they believed was demonstrated in the order form and invoice they had provided.
chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk stated the process of removing and replacing the rods from their fittings involved using a capstan drill and using a hydraulic crimping machine to fix the new nylon rods.
They also said that a similar complaint was investigated by Dudley Trading Standards (DTS) regarding a previous ad promoting the same product, and that DTS were content with the changes that had been made, including the disputed claim Sourcing4u had complained about.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would interpret the claim "These Rods are Manufactured in Britain … Purchase from a small UK Chimney Sweeping Manufacturing company Support British jobs" to mean that the nylon rods that came with the advertised product were manufactured and sold by a UK based company.
We contacted DTS who confirmed that they had investigated a similar complaint regarding previous claims made for the product. DTS stated that the ad they investigated was considered to be misleading and consequently, chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk changed the wording of the claims to how they currently appeared, which they were content with. This was because they understood that after chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk received the boxed product from China, the Chinese rods were removed and the fittings on the end of those rods were detached and then customised by chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk, in the UK. They understood that the UK customisation of those end fittings was such that it made them suitable for refitting to the replacement rods, which were purchased and cut to the required size in the UK by chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk's supplier. DTS were therefore of the view that the rods were in a substantially different state from when they arrived in the country having undergone a substantial change in the UK.
We saw evidence showing that the replacement rods chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk purchased (in the UK) were manufactured in Germany. However, we noted that they were cut in the UK before being sent out to chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk. We considered that this, along with the further work chimneyrodsdirect.co.uk carried out on attaching the new nylon rods to the fittings, meant that they had undergone a substantial change in the UK before being sold to consumers and we therefore concluded that the claim, "These Rods are Manufactured in Britain … Purchase from a small UK Chimney Sweeping Manufacturing company Support British jobs" had been substantiated and was not misleading.
We investigated the claim under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (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), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action required.
