Background
Summary of Council decision
Three issues were investigated, of which one was Upheld and two Not upheld.
Ad description
A leaflet produced by a horse sanctuary was headlined "RAGWORT KILLS Help us to control the spread of the yellow peril". Text under the heading "The Facts" included "One flowering plant produces 150,000 seeds. Each seed has a 70% chance of germinating. Wind spreads the seeds far and wide".
Issue
Swansea Friends of the Earth challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
1. "One flowering plant produces 150,000 seeds";
2. "Each seed has a 70% chance of germinating"; and
3. "Wind spreads the seeds far and wide".
Response
1. Redwings Horse Sanctuary (Redwings) believed the claim "One flowering plant produces 150,000 seeds" was supported by evidence and provided studies, reports and advice documents. They provided a summary of evidence which showed that the estimated seed number per plant ranged from 4,760 to 150,000. They said the evidence highlighted the complexity of trying to determine the number of seeds per plant but believed the number of seeds referenced in their literature mirrored those quoted in literature from other equine publications (which were supplied).
2. They said the claim "Each seed has a 70% chance of germinating" was a conservative estimate and was in line with the approach taken by Defra. They said that other sources, including those which were based on laboratory testing, had referred to higher seed germination rates of between 80% and 90%. They provided published reports and publications (including the Defra position) which examined ragwort plants and their germination rates.
3. They said the claim "Wind spreads the seeds far and wide" was supported by a number of sources. They believed the ad did not claim that wind was the only dispersal method, but said studies showed that it did carry the seeds a considerable distance. They believed it should be taken into account that those plants grown as a result of wind seed dispersal would themselves have seeds which would be distributed by wind, resulting in further distribution.
Assessment
1. Upheld
Although the ASA noted evidence demonstrated that on occasion some ragwort plants had the potential to produce up to 150,000 seeds, it did not demonstrate that this was the number of seeds that were commonly produced by the plant in the UK. The evidence demonstrated that there could be a range of between 4,760 and 150,000 seeds produced per plant, but we understood that the upper and lower ends of the range were likely to occur significantly less often than those which fell in the middle of the range. We therefore concluded that the claim "One flowering plant produces 150,000 seeds" was misleading.
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. (Misleading advertising) and 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).
2. Not upheld
The ASA noted the various sources supplied reported seed germination rates of between 70% and 90%. We noted one of those studies included laboratory testing and considered that whilst that test method demonstrated the potential for germination under controlled circumstances, it did not replicate the circumstances under which real life germination occurred, which could be affected by a number of external factors including soil type and weather conditions. However, we noted the Defra publication stated that ragwort had a seed germination rate of 70% and considered that this was likely to be an accurate representation of germination rates. Because the germination rate in the ad mirrored the 70% referred to by Defra, we concluded that the claim "Each seed has a 70% chance of germinating" had been substantiated and was not misleading.
On this point we investigated the under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 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) but did not find it in breach.
3. Not upheld
We considered that consumers would understand the claim "Wind spreads the seeds far and wide" to mean that, over time, seeds from ragwort plants could be distributed by wind, but would not understand it as an absolute claim that the wind would spread the seeds over large distances. We considered that it was reasonable to conclude that, as with any seed plant, over an extended period of time some seeds could travel enough distance to result in an expanding plant population. We therefore concluded that the claim was not misleading.
On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 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) but did not find it in breach.
Action
The ad should not appear again in its current form. We told Redwings to ensure future ads were supported by robust evidence.
