Background
Two issues were investigatied, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
Two online ads for a debt management company NationalDebtFree:
a. A sponsored ad on Google. Text in the ad stated "Government Debt Help - nationaldebtfree.co.uk UK Legislation to Clear Yours Debts upto [sic] 80% with Government Debt Help".
b. Text on a web page forwww.nationaldebtfree.co.uk stated, "Various schemes announced by Government debt ... Assistance for those who cannot make debt payments is declared by the Government. The Department of Constitutional Affairs of the U.K. Government has presented a paper in 2004 to endeavor [sic] to deal with the issues of debt ... The debt scheme assured by the Government is very legal and there are thousands of people who opt for it every month ... Debt Help is a trustworthy assurance by the Government. This service is introduced by the Government of U.K. for convenient pay of loans and other debts ...".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claims:
1. "Government Debt Help" and "UK Legislation to Clear Your Debts upto [sic] 80% with Government Debt Help" in ad (a); and
2. "The debt scheme assured by the Government" and "This service is introduced by the Government of U.K." in ad (b);
were misleading because they implied that the advertiser was endorsed by the UK Government.
Response
NationalDebtFree did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by NationalDebtFree's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code. (Unreasonably delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and we told them to do so in future.
1. Upheld
We noted the text "Government Debt Help" in ad (a), particularly the use of upper case lettering and the words "Government Debt" in bold, implied that this was the official name under which the advertiser operated. We considered that the text "UK Legislation to Clear Your Debts upto [sic] 80% with Government Debt Help" gave the overall impression that the advertiser's services were directly provided by the UK Government or connected with the government as the nature of the advertiser's identity was presented in an ambiguous manner. As we had not seen any evidence that this was the case, we concluded the ad was misleading.
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), 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) and 3.50 3.50 Marketing communications must not display a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation. Marketing communications must not claim that the marketer (or any other entity referred to), the marketing communication or the advertised product has been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it has not or without complying with the terms of the approval, endorsement or authorisation. (Endorsements and Testimonials).
2. Upheld
We noted that the text under the heading 'Various schemes announced by Government debt' in ad (b) contained a reference to a report produced by the Department of Constitutional Affairs on the issues of debt. The text that followed stated "The debt scheme assured by the Government is very legal" did not specify the scheme to which the statement referred. However, we considered that the wording, in combination with the previous reference, implied that the advertiser's debt management services were in compliance with legal standards and that they were "assured" by the Government.
We also noted that the ad further stated "This service is introduced by the Government of U.K. for convenient pay of loans and other debts". We considered this created further ambiguity as to the "service" that was introduced by the Government and whether this related to the advertiser's services. Given the name of the advertiser, the references to the Government and the Department of Constitutional Affairs, the ambiguity of the wording and the overall impression of the ad, we considered that consumers were likely to infer from the ad that the advertiser had been established by the UK Government or that the provision of its services was endorsed by the Government. As we had not seen any evidence that this was the case, we concluded the ad was misleading.
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), 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) and 3.50 3.50 Marketing communications must not display a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation. Marketing communications must not claim that the marketer (or any other entity referred to), the marketing communication or the advertised product has been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it has not or without complying with the terms of the approval, endorsement or authorisation. (Endorsements and Testimonials).
Action
The ads must not appear in their current forms. We told NationalDebtFree to amend the ads to remove the impression that their services were connected with or endorsed by the UK Government.
