Ad description
Five ads for The BLAC Awards, an organisation that promoted achievements in the black community:
a. A Facebook post on The BLAC Awards page, seen on 26 December 2023, included a video that featured text stating “THE BLAC AWARDS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ROYAL AIR FORCE PRESENTS THE 2024 HONOURS OF DISTINCTION CANDIDATES”.
b. A second Facebook post, on The BLAC Awards page, seen on 12 February 2024, included a video that featured text stating “THE BLAC AWARDS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ROYAL AIR FORCE PRESENTS THE 2024 NOMINATION CATAGORIES”.
c. A third Facebook post, on The BLAC Awards page, seen on 21 March 2024, stated “THE BLAC AWARDS in partnership with the ROYAL AIR FORCE” and featured the RAF logo.
d. A fourth Facebook post, on The BLAC Awards page, seen on 14 May 2024, featured the RAF logo.
e. The BLAC Awards website, www.blac.org.uk, seen on 20 May 2024 featured the RAF logo on the home page landing screen and as a headline banner on other webpages. The main home page also featured text stating “IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ROYAL AIR FORCE” and displayed the RAF logo.
Issue
The Royal Air Force (RAF), who asserted The BLAC Awards did not have a current official partnership with the RAF, challenged whether the ads were misleading.
Response
The BLAC Awards (UK) C.I.C t/a The BLAC Awards said that they believed they had the authority to use the RAF’s logo since July 2020, when the RAF sponsored a BLAC Awards event. They provided a series of emails regarding that event, including emails from the RAF that discussed The BLAC Awards’ use of the RAF logo on its website.
They believed there was no end time to the arrangement. They had been in contact with representatives of an advertising agency, who confirmed their legitimate right to use the materials based on the evidence they held.
They explained that when they had first worked with the RAF in 2020, the RAF had provided them with logos to use on their website and awards and had sponsored and attended their events in recent years. They believed that since 2022 they had received mixed messaging from the RAF regarding ongoing sponsorship and involvement.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not claim that the marketer, the marketing communication or the advertised product had been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it had not.The ASA considered that consumers would understand the inclusion of the RAF logos in ads (a) to (e) and the claim “The BLAC awards in partnership with the Royal Air Force” in ads (a), (b), (c) and (e) to mean The BLAC Awards had an official current partnership with the RAF and was authorised to use its logo.
We understood that there had previously been a sponsorship arrangement between The BLAC Awards and the RAF, in 2020, and as part of that The BLAC Awards had permission to use the RAF logo and branding. However, we had not seen any evidence to suggest that the partnership was ongoing and that, at the time the ads were seen, The BLAC Awards was authorised to include the RAF’s logo in its advertising and we understood from the complainant that it was not.
We therefore concluded that the use of the RAF logo in ads (a) to (e) and the claim “The BLAC Awards in partnership with the RAF” in ads (a), (b), (c) and (e) were misleading.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.50 (Endorsements and testimonials).
Action
The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told The BLAC Awards (UK) C.I.C t/a The BLAC Awards not to claim or imply in their advertising that they had an official partnership with the RAF or any other public body if they had not, including by using their logos.
