Background
Update to Advertising Codes (7 April 2025):
On 7 April 2025, the Advertising Codes were updated to reflect the revocation and restatement of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (“CPRs” – the legislation from which the majority of the CAP and BCAP rules on misleading advertising derived) by the Unfair Commercial Practices provisions in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (“DMCCA”). On that date, the wording of a number of the rules in the Advertising Codes was changed to reflect relevant changes introduced by the DMCCA on 6 April 2025.
Given the ASA’s assessment of the ad that formed the subject of this ruling was carried out before 7 April 2025 the ASA considered the ad under the wording of the rules that existed prior to 7 April 2025, and the Ruling (and references to rules within it) should therefore be read in line with this wording, available here – CAP Code and BCAP Code.
Ad description
An X (formerly Twitter) post on The Claims Guide’s own account, seen on 29 October 2024, stated, “Owned a BMW, Citroen, Ford, Peugeot, Volvo, or Jaguar & Land Rover diesel car? Manufacturers are accused of cheating emissions tests […] Over £193 MILLION has been paid. Find out if you qualify”.
The post included an image of black text on a white background that stated, “Diesel Emissions Claims […] Make a claim Drivers can potentially make a diesel emissions claim if they owned or leased a diesel car Claims are expected to [sic] worth up to £10,000 each […] Eligibility is dependent on the exact make and model, so should be checked using the official reg checker” and “Check Your Car In Seconds. Get Up To £10,000 With A Diesel Claim”. The post linked to a page of the The Claims Guide’s website headed “Diesel Emissions Claims”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that The Claims Guide was associated or endorsed by the UK Government.
Response
Cambridge Corporate Consultants Ltd t/a The Claims Guide stated that any implication of association with or endorsement by the UK Government was unintended. They said that they would ensure that any future advertising would not use layouts and fonts that could lead to confusion.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the image used in the ad appeared to be a screenshot of a web page on the GOV.UK website detailing eligibility for making a claim in relation to diesel emissions. This was due to the use of the same typography, the black and white colour scheme, and simple layout. The layout included the placement of links to other pages at the top, and a section to the right-hand side with the partially visible heading “Related c” and further links underneath, as on GOV.UK web pages.
We considered that these elements were distinctively associated with the GOV.UK website and therefore would give consumers the impression that the company “The Claims Guide” was officially approved, endorsed or authorised by the Government to help consumers make diesel emission claims. This impression was further reinforced by the sentence in the screenshot which stated that eligibility “should be checked using the official reg checker", and the invitations to check eligibility on the website to which the ad linked. We considered the ad therefore presented The Claims Guide’s website as the Government’s “official” registration checker.
Because the ad implied that The Claims Guide was approved, endorsed or authorised by the UK Government, and that was not the case, we concluded that it was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.50 (Endorsements and Testimonials).
Action
The ad must not appear in the form complained of. We told Cambridge Corporate Consultants Ltd t/a The Claims Guide not to misleadingly imply that their company was approved, endorsed or authorised by the UK Government.
