Background
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
An ad on a job listings website for a vacancy with Encore Interactive was headlined "Trainee Marketing Assistant - No Experience Need." Text stated "Liverpool, Merseyside .. Salary negotiable .. Job type: Permanent, full time". Further text included "Location: Liverpool City Centre", "Salary: £250-£500 per week (OTE)", "We currently have 5+ trainee marketing assistant opportunities for our Liverpool City Centre location. Representing national high brand clients and full product training provided, this could be the opening you have been looking for! No previous sales or marketing experience is required as we are ready to coach and develop you in all aspects of our business and clients, but previous customer service experience is an advantage". And "MUST BE ABLE TO COMMUTE TO OUR LIVERPOOL CITY CENTRE OFFICE DAILY".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether:
1. the claim "Job type: Permanent, full time" was misleading, because they understood it was a self-employed role;
2. the claims the salary was "negotiable" and "£250-£500 per week (OTE)" were misleading, because they understood the job was offered on a commission only basis; and
3. the description of the job role was misleading, because they understood it was for a door-to-door sales position.
Response
1. Encore Interactive Ltd (Encore Interactive) said that the job listings website only allowed the options of 'full-time'; 'part-time'; or 'full-time or part-time' to be selected for the 'Job type'. They said that because this role was self-employed, neither option was a perfect fit, but that they selected 'full-time' because advisors would be managing their own business and the more time they spent on it the more money they would earn, depending on their performance.
2. They said the salary was clarified in the ad as 'OTE', meaning 'on-target earnings', and that earnings were entirely dependent on completed applications and sales by the advisor. They also said that on average agents could earn anything between £250 and £500 per week.
3. They said their clients asked them to represent them in three different ways, depending on their budget and need, and that the role was not purely door-to-door sales. It might involve business-to-business marketing including face-to-face sales and presentations; business-to-consumer marketing; or event based campaigns including kiosks at train stations, shopping centres and conventions.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA considered that in the context of an ad for a "Trainee Marketing Assistant, which did not specify that the role was self-employed, the claim "Job type: Permanent, full time" was misleading. We understood that the site did not allow the option of 'self-employed' to be selected for the 'Job type' but considered that the self-employed nature of the role should have been stated in the headline claim. We therefore concluded the ad breached the Code.
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.
and
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.
(Misleading advertising) and
20.2
20.2
Employment marketing communications must relate to genuine vacancies and potential employees must not be asked to pay for information.
Living and working conditions must not be misrepresented. Quoted earnings must be precise; if one has to be made, a forecast must not be unrepresentative. If income is earned from a basic salary and commission, commission only or in some other way, that must be made clear.
(Employment).
2. Upheld
Although the ad stated that the salary was 'OTE' we considered that not all consumers would be aware of what this meant. We also considered that the salary figure of 'on-target earnings' did not make it sufficiently clear that earnings for the role were entirely commission based and that there was no salary. We considered that the claim misleadingly implied that all advisors would earn between £250 and £500 per week and, because we had not seen any evidence that this was the case, concluded that the claim breached the Code.
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.
and
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.
(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
20.2
20.2
Employment marketing communications must relate to genuine vacancies and potential employees must not be asked to pay for information.
Living and working conditions must not be misrepresented. Quoted earnings must be precise; if one has to be made, a forecast must not be unrepresentative. If income is earned from a basic salary and commission, commission only or in some other way, that must be made clear.
(Employment).
3. Upheld
We understood that, although the role was not limited to door-to-door sales, it was one aspect of the role. The ad did not make any reference to door-to-door sales and we considered that the ad was therefore likely to mislead readers about the nature of the role. We therefore concluded the ad breached the Code.
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.
and
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.
(Misleading advertising), and
20.2
20.2
Employment marketing communications must relate to genuine vacancies and potential employees must not be asked to pay for information.
Living and working conditions must not be misrepresented. Quoted earnings must be precise; if one has to be made, a forecast must not be unrepresentative. If income is earned from a basic salary and commission, commission only or in some other way, that must be made clear.
(Employment).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Encore Interactive Ltd to ensure that their job ads complied with the Code.
