Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A website for portable electronic devices, www.sympleuk.com, stated "GGMM Timberland Sapele - African Real Wood iPhone 5 Case" and featured various images of the product. Below the images on the product description text stated "The GGMM Timberland Sapele is a wood effect iPhone 5 case. Inspired by the great African Sapele, the wood grain effect on these beautiful cases are unmatched. Made especially for iPhone 5, all buttons and connectors are catered for, while protecting the easy to scratch aluminium rear of your iPhone. Using high quality materials, this iPhone 5 case carefully protects your phone and yet retains the thinness and beauty of the device itself. The GGMM Timberland range comes in four flavours - Rosewood, Thai Teak, Walnut and Sapele - each with unique wood effect styling".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether:
1. the claim "African Real Wood" was misleading and contradicted the claim that the product was a "wood effect" case; and
2. the images of the product were misleading, because when they received the product it had the manufacturer's initials printed on the case.
Response
1. Symple Ltd (Symple) said the product was real wood and they described it as "wood effect" because it had a natural wood grain effect.
2. They said photographs of the product did not show the product at an angle in which the initials "GGMM" could be seen. They said the photographs were not misleading but they would include text in the product description that stated "features the initials GGMM on the side of the case".
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers were likely to understand the claim "African Real Wood" to mean that the product was made of real wood. We also considered they would understand the claim "wood effect" to mean that the product was made of faux wood and therefore contradicted the claim "African Real Wood". We asked Symple to provide evidence that the product was made of real wood but did not receive further correspondence. We therefore concluded that the claim 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.
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.
3.4
3.4
For marketing communications that quote prices for advertised products, material information [for the purposes of rule 3.3] includes:
and
3.4.1
3.4.1
the main characteristics of the product
(Misleading advertising) and
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification).
2. Upheld
Although the ad featured various photographs of the product from different angles, none of them showed the printed initials and we considered consumers were likely to infer from them that the product did not feature any printed text. We also considered that, in the absence of a photograph showing the printed initials, the text "features the initials GGMM on the side of the case" was insufficient to enable consumers to make an informed decision about the product. Because the images omitted material features about the product we concluded that they were 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.
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.
3.4
3.4
For marketing communications that quote prices for advertised products, material information [for the purposes of rule 3.3] includes:
and
3.4.1
3.4.1
the main characteristics of the product
(Misleading advertising) and
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Symple Ltd not to mislead consumers about the material of their products. We also told them to include significant features in their product images.
