Ad description
The website www.melbaskeyfield.co.uk included the logo of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP).
Issue
The SWPP objected that the website displayed their logo when Mel Baskeyfield Photography was not a member of the society.
Response
Mel Baskeyfield Photography did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Mel Baskeyfield Photography's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code. (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We considered the inclusion of the SWPP logo implied that Mel Baskeyfield Photography was a member of the SWPP. In the absence of evidence to demonstrate that was the case, we concluded that the ad was 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), 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 3.50 3.50 Marketing communications must not display a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation. Marketing communications must not claim that the marketer (or any other entity referred to), the marketing communication or the advertised product has been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it has not or without complying with the terms of the approval, endorsement or authorisation. (Endorsements and testimonials).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Mel Baskeyfield Photography not to state or imply that they were members of an organisation in future if that was not the case. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
