Misleadingness

3 Misleadingness

All advertisements must comply with the requirements of the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 (as amended). The ASA is empowered to regard a factual claim as inaccurate unless adequate evidence of accuracy is provided within a short period of time when requested. The ASA will require advertisements that are found to be misleading to be withdrawn and not played again.

The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations define an advertisement as misleading if "...in any way, including its presentation, it deceives or is likely to deceive the persons to whom it is addressed ... and if, by reason of its deceptive nature, it is likely to affect their economic behaviour or ... injures or is likely to injure a competitor of the person whose interests the advertisement seeks to promote." In exercise of powers contracted out to it by Ofcom, the ASA has a specific duty under the regulations to investigate complaints (other than frivolous or vexatious ones) about alleged misleading advertisements.

In particular:

a) Advertisements must not contain any descriptions, claims or other material which might, directly or by implication, mislead about the product or service advertised or about its suitability for the purpose recommended.

b) Advertisements must clarify any important limitations or qualifications, without which a misleading impression of a product or service might be given.

Advertisements must not misleadingly claim or imply that the product advertised, or an ingredient, has some special property or quality which cannot be established.

Scripts must not contain complicated technical jargon. Relevant scientific terminology may only be used in a way that can be readily understood by listeners without specialist knowledge.

Scientific terms, statistics, quotations from technical literature, etc. should be used with a proper sense of clarity to the unsophisticated listener. Irrelevant data and scientific jargon should not be used to make claims appear to have a scientific basis they do not possess. Statistics of limited validity should not be presented in such a way as to make it appear that they are universally true. This paragraph is especially relevant to environment-related claims (see Section 2, Rule 5).

c) Before accepting advertisements, Licensees must be satisfied that all descriptions and claims have been adequately substantiated by the advertiser. A half-truth, or a statement which inflates the truth, or which is literally true but deceptive when taken out of context, may be misleading for these purposes. Ambiguity in the precise wording of advertisements and in the use of sound effects must be avoided.

All factual claims need substantiation and advertisers must provide supporting written evidence if claims are likely to be challenged. ‘Puffery’ is only acceptable in descriptions of products and services where listeners can very easily recognise and accept it as such. Claims in sung jingles should be substantiated in the same way as those using the spoken word.

Advertisements must not falsely suggest or imply official approval for a product.