ASA Adjudication on Co-operative Group Ltd

Ad

A press ad for the Fairways Funeral Plan stated “The personal service you deserve. The Fairways Funeral Plan is individually tailored to meet your needs. Everything included in The Fairways Funeral Plan is fully guaranteed no matter how high prices rise and we’ve created flexible payment plans to suit any budget. So even in uncertain times, you can rest assured everything will be taken care of. The Fairways Funeral Plan is only available from carefully selected Funeral Directors which meet the highest standards of care and quality. These are funeral experts and are available to call 24 hours a day, every day of the year”. Five funeral directors and funeral services were listed in the ad.

Issue

Barringtons Funeral Service objected that the ad was misleading because it implied:

1. the listed funeral directors and services were independent, but did not make clear that they were part of Fairways Partnership Ltd, which was owned by the Co-operative Group; and,

2. that the listed funeral directors and services had been selected due to their high quality of care and service, when in fact all funeral directors who were part of the Fairways Partnership would offer the advertised plan.

Response

1. The Co-operative Funeralcare, trading as The Fairways Partnership, confirmed that the ad was no longer running. They said the ad did not make any reference to the named businesses being independent.

2. They said the ad stated that the plan was available from "carefully selected Funeral Directors which meet the highest standards", but they did not believe that suggested that other companies did not offer high standards, but rather suggested that the Fairways Funeral Plan (FFP) was only available from a selection of funeral homes and that those homes offered high standards. They said they could not state that the plan was available from all funeral homes which offered a high standard of service, as there were many homes which offered a high standard of service and were independent or owned and operated by other companies, but which did not offer the plan. They said the Fairways funeral plan was not offered by all funeral homes owned by the Co-operative and was only available through branches owned by or selected by the Fairways Partnership. They said their branches were inspected by the National Association of Funeral Directors, their own internal standards, their audit team and mystery shop programme.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted that the ad did not expressly state that the listed funeral services were part of the Fairways Partnership Ltd or were owned by the Co-operative Group. However, we also noted that the ad did not directly assert or expressly claim that the listed services were independent funeral homes. We considered that readers would note that the listed funeral homes were all being promoted in the same ad, and were all offering the FFP. We therefore considered that readers were likely to understand that the listed funeral homes were affiliated to other funeral services in some way or were part of a group of funeral homes.

Because we considered that the ad did not imply that the listed funeral homes were independent or family-owned funeral homes, we concluded that the ad was not misleading.

On that point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 and 3.5 (Misleading advertising), but did not find it in breach.

2. Not upheld

We noted that the FFP was not offered by all Co-operative branches, but by those which were owned or selected by the Fairways Partnership. We also understood that Co-operative funeral homes were subject to inspections to ensure a certain standard. We noted that the ad stated "The Fairways Funeral Plan is only available from carefully selected Funeral Directors which meet the highest standards of care and quality" and considered that readers would understand that the FFP was only offered in certain funeral homes. However, we did not consider that readers would infer that any funeral homes or directors which did not offer the FFP could consequently not also offer the highest standards of care and quality. We considered that readers would understand that those funeral services offered alternative funeral plans for their customers and the ad was not making a comparative claim about the standards of care and quality of other funeral services, homes or plans.

Because we considered that readers would understand that the ad was promoting the FFP and was highlighting the funeral homes which offered that plan, which the advertisers claimed met "the highest standards of care and quality", we concluded that the ad was not misleading.

On that point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 and 3.5 (Misleading advertising), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)