Ad description
A website for Ecoflow, uk.ecoflow.com, a sustainable energy company seen on 20 January 2026. Text on the “EcoFlow STREAM” promotions webpage stated “EcoFlow STREAM Ultra – Hot Picks Effortless DIY installation – no electrician required” above images of solar panels and batteries.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that to comply with UK legal requirements the products had to be installed by a qualified electrician, challenged whether the claim “Effortless DIY installation – no electrician required” was misleading.
Response
Ecoflow Innovation UK t/a EcoFlow said they had withdrawn the ad on receipt of the complaint, and they were reviewing similar claims that appeared elsewhere in their ads for the STREAM product range.
Assessment
Upheld
The ad included the claim “Effortless DIY installation – no electrician required” alongside various EcoFlow STREAM Ultra solar panels. We considered consumers would understand the claim to mean that they could install the STREAM solar panel products entirely by themselves.
However, we noted that on a separate product page in the FAQs section, under the question “Can I install the STREAM Series by myself?” text stated, “The system can be self-installed and maintained. However, in the UK, local regulations require the EcoFlow STREAM DIY Cable to be wired into the distribution board, which must be done by a certified installer or electrician”. We considered that information appeared in a list of questions near the bottom of a lengthy webpage, and it was not linked to the main claim. We therefore considered consumers could go through the entire process of purchasing a STREAM solar panel without being made aware of the requirement for the products to be installed by a professional. In any event, we considered it directly contradicted the main claim and was misleading for that reason.
Because we considered UK consumers would understand that the STREAM products did not require a certified installer or electrician, when that was not the case, we concluded that the claim “Effortless DIY installation – no electrician required” was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again the form complained of. We told Ecoflow Innovation UK t/a EcoFlow to ensure that their future ads did not misleadingly state or imply that their products could be installed without using a certified installer or electrician if that was not the case.
