Ad description
A circular on 23 May 2011 for solar energy systems stated, "Free Energy ... If your property is eligible you will benefit from a SUBSTANTIAL SUBSIDY with the further opportunity of a FULL REFUND on the cost of your installation if you successfully recommend six new customers to Solar Connection Ltd. Your property has initially been identified as a possible candidate under our Reward Home Scheme ... Solar Connection electricity enables you to sell any surplus electricity back into the grid and earn you more money ...". The reverse of the circular stated "... Up to 10% return on investment* ... *Government feed in tariff April 2010 ...".
Issue
YouGen challenged whether :
1. the claim "Up to 10% return on investment* ... *Government feed in tariff April 2010 ..." was misleading and could be substantiated, because they believed customers could not claim the feed-in tariff because the advertiser was not an accredited installer;
2. the claim "FREE ENERGY" was misleading, because there were substantial installation costs to the system.
Response
1. Solar Connection Ltd (Solar Connection) said all of their installations were carried out by installers who were accredited under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), and therefore all of their customers had received the feed-in tariff.
2. Solar Connection said “FREE ENERGY” referred to the sun’s energy and they also offered free systems to customers if they wished.
Assessment
1. Not upheld
The ASA spoke with the company who carried out installations for Solar Connection and confirmed they were MCS installers, meaning Solar Connection customers were eligible to claim the feed-in tariff. We therefore concluded the claim was not misleading.
On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(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) but did not find it in breach.
2. Upheld
While we noted Solar Connection’s statement that the sun provided free energy, we considered that readers of the ad would infer that the “FREE ENERGY” claim related to the system, not to the sun’s energy. Because we understood that there were substantial installation costs to the system, we concluded the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.
On this point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(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.
