Ad description
An X (formerly Twitter) post on The Claims Guide’s own account, seen on 29 October 2024, stated, “Owned a BMW, Citroen, Ford, Peugeot, Volvo, or Jaguar & Land Rover diesel car? Manufacturers are accused of cheating emissions tests […] Over £193 MILLION has been paid. Find out if you qualify”.
The post included an image of black text on a white background that stated, “Diesel Emissions Claims […] Make a claim Drivers can potentially make a diesel emissions claim if they owned or leased a diesel car Claims are expected to [sic] worth up to £10,000 each […] Eligibility is dependent on the exact make and model, so should be checked using the official reg checker” and “Check Your Car In Seconds. Get Up To £10,000 With A Diesel Claim”. The post linked to a page of the The Claims Guide’s website headed “Diesel Emissions Claims”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that The Claims Guide was associated or endorsed by the UK Government.
Response
Cambridge Corporate Consultants Ltd t/a The Claims Guide stated that any implication of association with or endorsement by the UK Government was unintended. They said that they would ensure that any future advertising would not use layouts and fonts that could lead to confusion.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the image used in the ad appeared to be a screenshot of a web page on the GOV.UK website detailing eligibility for making a claim in relation to diesel emissions. This was due to the use of the same typography, the black and white colour scheme, and simple layout. The layout included the placement of links to other pages at the top, and a section to the right-hand side with the partially visible heading “Related c” and further links underneath, as on GOV.UK web pages.
We considered that these elements were distinctively associated with the GOV.UK website and therefore would give consumers the impression that the company “The Claims Guide” was officially approved, endorsed or authorised by the Government to help consumers make diesel emission claims. This impression was further reinforced by the sentence in the screenshot which stated that eligibility “should be checked using the official reg checker", and the invitations to check eligibility on the website to which the ad linked. We considered the ad therefore presented The Claims Guide’s website as the Government’s “official” registration checker.
Because the ad implied that The Claims Guide was approved, endorsed or authorised by the UK Government, and that was not the case, we concluded that it was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.50 (Endorsements and Testimonials).
Action
The ad must not appear in the form complained of. We told Cambridge Corporate Consultants Ltd t/a The Claims Guide not to misleadingly imply that their company was approved, endorsed or authorised by the UK Government.
