Ad description

The website, www.littlelambnappies.com, stated "BAMBOO NAPPY … The World's [sic] best selling washable nappy by LittleLamb".

Issue

TotsBots challenged whether the claim "The world's best selling washable nappy" was misleading and could be substantiated.

Response

LittleLamb Ltd did not provide a substantive response to the ASA's enquiries.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA was concerned by LittleLamb's lack of a substantive response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.

In the absence of evidence to support the claim that LittleLamb's bamboo nappy was the world's best selling washable nappy, which should have compared their sales with other suppliers of washable nappies, worldwide, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and therefore breached the Code.

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),  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) and  3.38 3.38 Marketing communications that include a comparison with an unidentifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer. The elements of the comparison must not be selected to give the marketer an unrepresentative advantage.  (Other comparisons).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told LittleLamb Ltd not to make best selling claims unless they held documentary evidence to substantiate them. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.38     3.7    


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