Background
This case forms part of an ASA-initiated project group of five cases investigating ads from online personalities and companies promoting courses that purport to help people make money and expand their business.
Ad description
Two paid-for social media ads by Charlie Johnson, a business coach in the fitness industry:
a. The first Instagram ad, dated 16 May 2025, stated, “‘Breaking News: Client Hits £33K Month Using Our Proven Systems’ We just got the numbers from our client Emma. £33,000 in 30 days […] The same system we’ve used to: *Scale multiple coaching businesses past £100K months… Emma focused on three things: 1. Implementing our proven systems 2. Delivering exceptional results 3. Maintaining premium pricing […] Emma isn’t special. She isn’t more qualified than you. She doesn’t have some unique advantage. She just had access to the right systems and actually implemented them. Want to know if these same systems could work for your coaching business? Hit the link below to book your free business audit. We’ll analyze your current setup and show you exactly how to implement the same systems Emma used to hit £33K months” [sic]. The post featured a picture of ‘Emma’, the client, with text that stated, “Record £33K Month STUDENT SUCCESS: EMMA! WANT TO SEE HOW EMMA JUST SMASHED A RECORD £33K MONTH? READ THE CAPTION”.
b. The second Instagram and Facebook ad, dated 18 May 2025, stated, “Still stuck in the gym trading your freedom for £30 sessions? [...] I was the same – until I snapped out of it. Now I pull $30K/month online and work fewer hours than I did as a broke PT […] I usually charge $3,997 for this system – but I’m giving it away FREE for the next 48 hours...Get the full system here before I pull it down”.
The post also featured a video of Mr Johnson stating, “Are you a trainer who makes 5K a month who wants time freedom, location freedom and financial freedom? Just ask Dom who was working 80 hour weeks. Now he works just 20 hours a week and earns over $100,000 a month […] I’ve seen 500 plus trainers break free from these mistakes […] This is ‘$100K Coach Formula’ […] If you click the link below, you can walk through the entire system to see how it works for free”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether:
- ads (a) and (b) misleadingly implied the claimed lifestyle and earnings were typical; and
- the claim “I usually charge $3,997 for this system – but I’m giving it away FREE for the next 48 hours” in ad (b) was misleading.
Response
Charlie Johnson did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Mr Johnson’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code as well as failure to provide his geographical business address when requested by the ASA, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.7 (Unreasonable delay) and 1.7.1 (Compliance). We reminded him of his responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries without delay and told him to do so in the future.
1. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
Ad (a) stated that Seven Figure Scaling Systems (SFSS) enabled a client to earn £33,000 in 30 days, and that the featured client was not “special” or “more qualified” than others. The ad attributed their success to the “right systems”, in reference to SFSS.
Ad (b) claimed that SFSS allowed Mr Johnson to “put $30K/month online and work fewer hours”. It also stated that the same system enabled a client to gain “15 high-ticket clients in her first 30 days” and allowed another client to “work 20 hours a week and earns over $100,000 a month”.
We considered the audience was likely to interpret these claims to mean they could achieve the same earnings and working lifestyle by following SFSS, regardless of their experience level and personal circumstances. However, we understood that was unlikely to be the case and had not received information from Mr Johnson to demonstrate otherwise. Because the ads implied the results were typical, and we understood that was not likely to be the case, we concluded that the ads were misleading.
On that point, the ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.11 (Exaggeration).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not falsely state that a product, or the terms on which it is offered, would be available only for a limited time to deprive the audience of the time or opportunity to make an informed choice.
We considered the audience was likely to interpret the claim “FREE for the next 48 hours” to mean the free version of the course was only available for 48 hours and would then revert to incurring a charge. We, however, found that the landing page that ad (b) linked to, stating that the “Free $3,997 Course” would be sent via email, had been in existence for longer than this duration and continued to appear after the end of the advertised 48 hours. We therefore considered that the promotion was not actually time limited and that the claim in ad (b) was misleading.
On that point, ad (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.30 (Availability).
