Ad description
The website homepage www.excelhelicopters.co.uk, for Excel Helicopters, a helicopter charter and leasing company, seen on 2 January 2022, featured the claim “WHO WE WORK WITH” alongside logos for a number of companies, including Sky News, the BBC and the International Air and Space Training Institute (IASTI).
Issue
The complainant, an ex-employee of Excel Helicopters, challenged whether the claims that the advertiser “WORK[ED] WITH” Sky News, the BBC and IASTI were misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Excel Charter Ltd t/a Excel Helicopters provided a copy of an agreement between Excel Charter and IASTI. They said they had leased aircraft to another company that had contracted with the BBC and Sky News, and that BBC and Sky News had used Excel Helicopters to refuel their aircraft.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claim “WHO WE WORK WITH” alongside logos for companies including Sky News, the BBC and IASTI to mean that at the time the ad was seen Excel Helicopters provided services to, or otherwise regularly worked with, those companies. In the context of the webpage on which the claims appeared, which included brief information about Excel Helicopters providing charter flights and private helicopter hire, we considered consumers were likely to assume that in most cases those companies used Excel Helicopters for charter flights or private hire.
While the agreement between Excel Helicopters and IASTI did not relate specifically to the use of charter flights or private hire of helicopters from Excel Helicopters, we considered it did demonstrate that the two companies had an established and continuing agreement to work together. However, we had not seen any evidence showing that at the time the ad was seen Excel Helicopters provided any services to, or otherwise worked regularly with, the BBC or Sky News.
We concluded the claim that Excel Helicopters worked with IASTI had been substantiated and was therefore not misleading. However, the claims that they worked with the BBC and Sky News had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading.
The ad breached 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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Excel Charter Ltd t/a Excel Helicopters not to claim that they worked with the BBC and Sky News unless they held substantiation that was the case.
