Ad description
An email from Water2, a water filter company, received on 16 May 2024, featured the subject line “UPDATE: It’s gotten worse”. The body of the email stated, “Hi all, 100 people have fallen ill in Devon now. We can't standby [sic] and watch this happen. […] We have made Water2 just £99 today. USE CODE: URGENT at checkout […] Every home in the UK needs a water filter. We have built a 30,000+ strong community of people brave enough to oppose UK tap water. This event is it, the day where everyone understands that we were right all along. UK tap water is broken. Please protect yourself with a filter. Again, just £99 with the code URGENT Stay safe and please drink filtered water. We'll speak soon. Team Water2”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading, irresponsible, and caused fear and distress without justifiable reason.
Response
Gelcard Ltd t/a Water2 explained that the ad used the example of the current cryptosporidium contamination in Brixham drinking water to highlight their wider concerns with UK drinking water. They considered that the issue in Brixham was not an isolated case and they provided two news articles and a peer-reviewed study which they believed demonstrated that the poor quality of UK drinking water had been widely reported by scientists and news outlets. They also provided another news article that quoted data from the government’s Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) and showed a total of 34 E. coli and Enterococci breaches in England and Wales in 2022. While they understood that UK drinking water had a quality rating of 99.96% and was regularly monitored for contamination, they believed the quality was not good enough, and the safety standards by which the water was tested were incomplete and outdated. For example, the water was only tested for two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), despite being a large group of manmade chemicals with reported health effects if consumed.
Water2 believed the ad was factually correct in stating that 100 people had fallen ill in the area and that the situation had “gotten worse” since an earlier email they had sent about the issue. They said they had received messages from people affected by the contamination and had decided to reduce the price of their water filter so that it would be more accessible to those consumers in need. The statement, “This event is it, the day where everyone understands that we were right all along” referred to the significance of the contamination in Brixham for bringing into the public awareness the issues with the UK’s tap water. The advertiser provided a further news article about the Brixham community’s diminished trust in their water supplier. They believed the ad demonstrated Water2’s commitment to spreading awareness of the poor quality of drinking water in the UK through the promotional offer and statements such as “We can’t standby [sic] and watch this happen”, “Our shareholders didn’t love this idea, but they understand”, “Stay safe” and “We’ll speak soon”.
Water2 believed that, while the ad was likely to cause reasonable concern, it did not amount to fear or distress. They emphasised that the claim “Every home in the UK needs a water filter” referred to the severity of the contamination in Brixham, the prevalence of similar contaminations around the UK, as shown by DWI data, and the general context of the poor quality of drinking water in the UK and implications that had on the health of the UK public. They clarified that, the use of “need” within the claim communicated that it was very important, rather than just desirable, that every home in the UK had a water filter. They said claims that UK tap water was “broken” and “protect yourself with a filter” similarly conveyed the poor state of the UK’s drinking water and its contamination with substances such as cryptosporidium, lead and PFASs. They pointed out that 80% of the Environment Agency’s fines in 2022 were given to the water sector, which they believed would not be the case if this sector was working as it should. Water2 confirmed that their product was able to filter cryptosporidium.
Assessment
Upheld
The ad was seen in the context of a public health event that affected 16,000 properties in Brixham, Devon, after cryptosporidium, a parasite that could cause a diarrhoeal disease, was found in the area’s water supply. The ASA understood that at the time of the ad, 22 cases of cryptosporidiosis had been confirmed, with up to 100 more reporting symptoms to their GP. Affected residents were being advised not to drink tap water without boiling it first.
We considered that consumers would understand the subject line “UPDATE: It’s gotten worse” and the opening claim “100 people have fallen ill in Devon now” both referred to the water contamination in Brixham. Along with the claim, “We can’t standby [sic] and watch this happen” and a promotional offer which their “shareholders didn’t love”, we considered the ad implied that the situation had reached a level of severity, such that the advertiser felt compelled to act.
The ad contained subsequent claims about UK tap water more generally, including “Every home in the UK needs a water filter” and “UK tap water is broken”. We considered that the description of UK tap water as “broken” would be understood by consumers to mean that the system was no longer fit for purpose or working as it should, and that the situation in Brixham was an example of the consequences of the UK’s “broken” tap water. We considered that impression was reinforced by other claims such as “protect yourself with a filter” and “stay safe and please drink filtered water”.
We understood that the marketing email was sent to consumers around the UK; the ad therefore suggested the drinking water across the UK was open to risk of similar contamination and that consumers across the UK were at risk of disease by drinking unfiltered tap water. The ad addressed the reader directly, urging them to “protect” themselves and “stay safe” by consuming only filtered water, and included a promotional code “URGENT”, which allowed the recipient to purchase a discounted water filter. We considered that the urgent tone and alarmist language used in the ad conveyed it was necessary for consumers to take urgent action and further contributed to the impression that drinking unfiltered tap water was a health risk. With that in mind, we considered the ad was likely to cause fear.
Furthermore, we understood that the contamination in Brixham tap water was a temporary situation and was contained to the affected area. The boil water notice was not in place for the rest of the UK. We therefore considered that the ad exaggerated the health risks of UK drinking water and exploited people’s fears that tap water across the UK was unsafe to drink.
We therefore concluded that, on the basis of a temporary situation limited to a certain geographical area, the ad was misleading, irresponsible and would likely cause fear and distress that was not justified.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility), 3.1 (Misleading advertising), and 4.2 (Harm & Offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Gelcard Ltd t/a Water2 to ensure their future marketing communications did not cause unjustified fear or distress on the basis of misleading claims.
