Ad description
A website, www.ukbifolddoorfactory.co.uk, for UK Bi-Fold Door Factory, a window and door fitting company seen on 3 April 2023.
Text on the home page stated, “Proud to work with world-leading systems for commercial and domestic products”. The bottom of the page featured logos of different companies including one that stated, “Schüco Partner”, and to the right of that, another that stated, “Cortizo”.
Text on a page entitled “Request A Quote” stated, “CORTIZO APPROVED”. Underneath that was a logo that stated, “Cortizo UK Official Dealer”. Underneath the logo, text stated, “Approved Manufacturer and installers by world leading CORTIZO. We are exclusive manufacturers of their innovative and luxury products […]”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that UK Bi-Fold Door Factory did not have an official partnership with either Schüco or Cortizo, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
UK Bi-Fold Door Factory Ltd did not provide a substantive response to the ASA’s enquiries.
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.
We considered that consumers would understand the inclusion of the Cortizo logo and another that stated “Schüco Partner” alongside the claim “Proud to work with world-leading systems for commercial and domestic products” to mean that UK Bi-Fold Door Factory had an official partnership with those two businesses. We also considered that the claims “CORTIZO APPROVED”, “Cortizo UK Official Dealer” and “Approved Manufacturer and installers by world leading CORTIZO” would be interpreted in the same way. Because UK Bi-Fold Door Factory did not provide any evidence to show that it had official partnerships with the two businesses, we concluded that the claims were 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 again in the form complained of. We told UK Bi-Fold Door Factory Ltd not to claim or imply that they had official partnerships with Schüco or Cortizo or with other businesses and any public or other body if they had not. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
