Ad description
A website for EssayMills, www.essaymills.co.uk, an essay writing service seen in February 2023, included a page headed “Scotland's Assignment Help Led by Former Professors”. Further text stated “Buy assignments from Essay Mills … With a glowing and proven track record of providing top-notch help with assignments, this is the perfect spot for spelling out ‘write my assignment in Scotland.’ We have successfully delivered 8000+ orders to multi-disciplined tutees and maintained a 100% streak of on-time delivery. Hire our online assignment creator, and achieve your dream grades that will envy your peers [sic]”. Underneath that was a button labelled “GET INSTANT PRICE QUOTE”.
A section further down the page titled “Perks of our Best Essay Writing Services” included the claims “We take inspiration instead of copying words of others. We write every paper free from plagiarism, so you can hold a unique paper in your hands”, “24/7 Friendly Support. Whether you have a pressing question that needs an answer or you want to get an update on your essay, all you have to do is pick up the phone”, and “From cover page to formatting and a plagiarism report, you’ll get many free features with our writing service”.
A section towards the bottom of the page titled “Scotland’s Top Assignment Helpers Empowers [sic] You to Climb The Ladder of Success” had a tab labelled “Renowned Assignment Writing Services in Scotland Assuring Plagiarism-Free Papers” stated “Only one thing our assignment help services are unknown with [sic], is "plagiarism". The roster of homework helpers in our agency has never exercised the act of copying […] You no longer have to sacrifice your sleep or miss the exciting weekend plans just because you [sic] got to work on some tiring assignments! Let our experts take charge of it so you can take rest. With our assignment writing help, plagiarism-free papers are no more a dream for you […] Every order is prepared from the ground to ensure the outcomes are original. The whole process is carried out from scratch – from ideation to research to finally composing the document. This eliminates all the possibilities of plagiarism”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that students could submit an essay they had bought as their own.
Response
Brilliant Minds Ltd t/a EssayMills did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Brilliant Mind Ltd’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
Upheld
The ad included claims such as “Buy assignments from Essay Mills…With a glowing and proven track record of providing top-notch help with assignments, this is the perfect spot for spelling out ‘write my assignment in Scotland’”, and “Scotland’s Top Assignment Helpers Empowers [sic] You to Climb The Ladder of Success”. The ad also made a number of references to avoiding plagiarism, including “The whole process is carried out from scratch – from ideation to research to finally composing the document. This eliminates all the possibilities of plagiarism”, “We write every paper free from plagiarism”, and “Plagiarism-Free Papers”.
We considered the overall impression of the ad was that students at Scottish institutions could purchase an original essay from EssayMills and submit it as their own work without risk, particularly because the essay would be plagiarism-free. We understood that students who committed plagiarism could face academic disciplinary measures, including expulsion from their institution. However, the ad made no reference to the risks involved in consumers purchasing work from EssayMills and submitting it as their own. We considered that was material information that was likely to affect consumers’ understanding of the ad’s overall message and their decision to use the service. Because we considered the ad suggested students could purchase and submit essays as their own without risk of repercussions when that was not the case, we concluded it was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Brilliant Minds Ltd t/a EssayMills to ensure their advertising did not imply that students who used their service could submit an essay they had bought as their own without risk. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
