Ad description

a. The ad featured a number of people receiving bouquets of flowers along with a personalised greeting card. Throughout the ad, various flowers were shown while a voice-over stated, "Moonpig flowers, perfect for any occasion with free next-day delivery and a free personalised Moonpig card. Because it's great to know who your flowers are from, but it's even better knowing they're for you. And now with beautiful Britishflowers." At the end of the ad, various bouquets were shown along with several graphics, one of which featured the Union Jack and text that stated "British Flowers".

b. The ad featured a woman receiving a bouquet of flowers while a voice-over stated, "Beautiful British flowers from Moonpig [...]" Throughout the ad, various flowers were shown and at the end included various graphics, one of which featured the Union Jack and text that stated "British Flowers".

Issue

The complainant, who understood that not all the flowers featured in the ad were grown in the UK, challenged whether the claim "British flowers" was misleading and could be substantiated.

Response

Moonpig.com Ltd stated that the ad was for the most part marketing their generic flowers, but also informed viewers that they had a seasonal range of British flowers. The ad was an update of their generic ad and did not feature any flowers from their British range, and only the graphics and voice-over referred to the claim "British flowers". Moonpig stated that the aim of the ad was to promote a particular range of British flowers that were in season and along with Clearcast, they were content with the messaging that was used when the ad was cleared. They further stated that the website was also clear in identifying the "British Flowers" from the other bouquets.

Clearcast stated that not all flowers sold by Moonpig were British and believed this was made clear when the voice-over stated "and now with beautiful British flowers." Clearcast considered that the line made clear that some, but not all of Moonpig's flowers would be sourced from Britain.

Assessment

Upheld

We noted that both ads featured various flowers and in the final scenes, a graphic of the Union Jack was shown stating "British Flowers". Furthermore, the voice-over in ad (a) made the claim "And now with beautiful British flowers". We considered that consumers would understand that either all or a proportion of the flowers featured in the ad were grown in the United Kingdom. However, we understood that none of the flowers shown in the ad were from Moonpig's British range and we therefore, concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached BCAP Code rules  3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading Advertising) and  3.9 3.9 Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is 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).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Moonpig.com Ltd to ensure that in future advertising which made claims for the provenance of flowers that it was made clear what flowers they referred to.

BCAP Code

3.1     3.9    


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