Be responsible, substantiate your claims

The ASAI receives between 1300 and 1500 complaints each year, related to approximately 1000 advertisements. The complaints, which refer to advertising for a wide range of products and services, relate to a variety of aspects of the advertising involved, for example, the claims or imagery in the advertising. We assess whether the advertising complies with the ASAI Code rules, with most complaints being made on the grounds that an ad is offensive or that it is misleading. 

Most complaints that are made on the grounds of being misleading are straightforward to deal with - was it clear what the offer was; if the price was quoted, did it relate to the product being advertised; where there conditions that should have been given more prominence. Sometimes, however, the matter is more complex and involves the analysis of substantiation. The ASAI Code rules on Substantiation are extensive and state that:

4.9      A marketing communication should not contain claims – whether direct or indirect, expressed or implied – which a consumer would be likely to regard as being objectively true unless the objective truth of the claims can be substantiated.

4.10     Before offering a marketing communication for publication, advertisers should satisfy themselves that they will be able to provide documentary evidence to substantiate all claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective. Relevant evidence should be sent without delay if requested by the ASAI and should be adequate to support both detailed claims and the overall impression created by the marketing communication.

4.11     If there is a significant division of informed opinion about any claim made in a marketing communication, the claim should not be portrayed as universally accepted.

4.12     Marketing communications should not present statistics in such a way as to exaggerate the validity of an advertising claim nor give the unjustified impression that there is validity to the claim.

4.13     Marketing communications should not:

• (a) misuse, mischaracterise or misleadingly cite any technical data, e.g. research results or quotations from technical and scientific publications;

or

• (b) use scientific terminology or vocabulary in such a way as to suggest falsely or misleadingly that an advertising claim has scientific validity.

4.14     Marketing communications should not exaggerate the value, accuracy or usefulness of claims contained in books, tapes, videos, DVDs and the like that have not been independently substantiated.

Advertisers should ensure that they have the evidence for any claims that are made in the marketing communications that they produce. To put it another way, an advertiser should not include a claim in their marketing communications unless they are satisfied that there is sufficient available, robust and relevant substantiation for the claim. And, as the Code states, “If there is a significant division of informed opinion about any claim made in a marketing communication, the claim should not be portrayed as universally accepted.” 

When the ASAI asks for substantiation, we will request the advertisers to explain why it is relevant. In addition, if the substantiation is, for example, reports on medical trials or scientific research, then we require advertisers to identify the appropriate areas in the reports and to explain why they are relevant. 

Just as it is not the role of the ASAI to interpret what a complainant’s concern is, we consider that advertisers need to tell us what they consider to be relevant in the substantiation they provide and to explain why it is relevant. It appears to us that it is fairer to the advertisers that they explain why the material is relevant, rather than the ASAI extrapolating why it might be. 

Clearly, there will be times that the ASAI will need to obtain expert advice to examine the substantiation that we receive. This is used to assist the Complaints Committee in determining whether it supports the marketing communications claims. In practice, this arises infrequently. 

The onus rests with advertisers to substantiate their marketing claims and as the ASAI Code requires: “Before offering a marketing communication for publication, advertisers should satisfy themselves that they will be able to provide documentary evidence to substantiate all claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective.”

Putting it simply, an advertiser needs to know their claims, know the evidence to substantiate them and ensure that they match.