Ad description
A website for UK Fitness Direct, www.ukfitnessdirect.co.uk, an online fitness store, seen in May 2021, included product listings for Tunturi, Flow Fitness, Waterrower and NOHrD products.
Issue
FixAGym Ltd challenged whether the advertised products from the four brands could be purchased from the advertiser.
Response
TMC Media Group AG t/a ukfitnessdirect.co.uk did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by ukfitnessdirect.co.uk’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We considered that consumers would understand that the advertised products on ukfitnessdirect.co.uk were products that could be purchased from them, at the stated prices. We understood, however, that ukfitnessdirect.co.uk did not hold the rights to sell products from the brands Tunturi, Flow Fitness, Waterrower and NOHrD and as such would be unable to supply the advertised products to consumers. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
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 TMC Media Group AG t/a ukfitnessdirect.co.uk to ensure they did not advertise products that could not be purchased on their website by consumers. We passed the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
