Ad description
Claims on www.eyresthatch.com stated "EYRES MASTER THATCHERS" and included a logo for the National Society of Master Thatchers under the heading "Accreditation and Membership". Text below stated "1990-2006".
Issue
The Secretary of the National Society of Master Thatchers challenged whether the logo misleadingly implied membership to the National Society of Master Thatchers.
Response
Bearman Eyres Ltd said they were willing to remove the logo, and replaced it with the claim "Member NSMT 1990-2006".
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered consumers would interpret the logo in conjunction with the claim "1990-2006" to mean that Bearman Eyres had been a member of the National Society of Master Thatchers between 1990 and 2006, and that the heading "Accreditation and Membership" reinforced that impression. We had not seen evidence to demonstrate their membership during that period. While we noted that Bearman Eyres had removed the logo from their website, we considered the claim they had replaced it with was likely to be interpreted in the same way. Because Bearman Eyres had not provided evidence to substantiate the likely interpretation of the logo and claim, we concluded the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 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) and 3.50 3.50 Marketing communications must not display a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation. Marketing communications must not claim that the marketer (or any other entity referred to), the marketing communication or the advertised product has been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it has not or without complying with the terms of the approval, endorsement or authorisation. (Endorsements and Testimonials).
Action
The ad must not appear in its current form. We told Bearman Eyres Ltd not to use logos or claims that misleadingly implied membership of or association with a society.
