Ad description
A paid-for Google ad seen on 10 April. The ad stated, “#1 UK online Sixth Form School – Leading UK Online Sixth Form. Streamline your application process for online sixth form at Thomas Keith, a leading UK school. Elevate your education with flexible sixth form online courses tailored to your goals. Flexible Schedules”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood the school’s registered address was in Hong Kong, challenged whether the claims “#1 UK online Sixth Form School” and “Leading UK Online Sixth Form” were misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Thomas Keith Ltd did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Thomas Keith Ltd’s lack of 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 provide a response to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
Upheld
We considered the claims, “#1 UK online Sixth Form School” and “Leading UK Online Sixth Form” were likely to be interpreted to mean that the sixth form was based in the UK. However, the basis of the “#1” and “leading” claims was unclear. For example, the claims could be understood to mean that Thomas Keith’s pupils achieved the highest exam grades; that it had the largest range of courses; or that it was ranked the highest by an independent educational awarding body, in comparison to other online sixth forms. Because of the ambiguous way in which those claims were presented, we considered that the ad had the potential to mislead in relation to the basis of the “#1” and “leading” claims.
We had not been provided with an explanation for the basis of the claims or seen any evidence from Thomas Keith demonstrating that the school was the number one or leading online sixth form in the UK on any measure, in comparison with their competitors. We had also not seen any evidence demonstrating that the sixth form was based in the UK.
We therefore concluded that the claims “#1 UK online Sixth Form School” and “Leading UK Online Sixth Form” were misleading and had not been substantiated.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Thomas Keith Ltd to ensure their future advertising did not mislead and to ensure that any claims made in their advertising could be substantiated. We also told them not to claim they were based in the UK if that was not the case. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
