RegulationNov 5 2021

Advertising watchdog cracks down on funeral plan ad

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by
Advertising watchdog cracks down on funeral plan ad
Photo: Mike via Pexels

The advertising regulator has censured lead-generating adverts for a funeral plan as 'misleading' and has ordered these to be pulled.

According to the Advertising Standards Agency, the Open Media Group hosted a banner advert on Youtube, claiming that 'UK Seniors claim new benefit in February'. 

But a couple of viewers complained about the ad, which took people to a page on the Must Have Money Tips website, and linked to a page on the Peace of Mind Funeral Planning website (lp.peaceofmindplans.co.uk).

The complaints said it was misleading, as it intimated UK residents within a certain age category could claim a new government or similar benefit from February 2021, and that by clicking through they could find out how to claim it. Instead, the adverts were really designed to gather consumers' information.

The ads did not make clear their purpose was principally to generate leads by gathering consumers’ personal information.

In its published ruling, the ASA said complainants had raised two concerns:

1. The claims in both ads that UK seniors could claim a new benefit were misleading and could be substantiated.

2. The ads falsely implied the marketer was acting for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession and did not make clear their commercial intent.

The ASA said: "The ad also featured the text 'Peace of Mind Funerals' which suggested that the benefit was in relation to funerals.

"We acknowledged that consumers were likely to understand from the placement of that wording next to the word 'ad' that an organisation or business using the name 'Peace of Mind Funerals' had placed the ad.

"However, we considered that did not provide sufficient information to counteract the impression that the ad referred to a government or other benefit relating to funerals."

The ASA investigated both a banner ad, and an ad in a content discovery network for Open Media Group. 

The ASA stated: "The banner ad, seen on a YouTube on 12 February 2021, included an image of a woman’s face with the claim: 'UK Seniors claim new benefit in February UK Seniors claim this brilliant new benefit in February'. Text beneath stated 'Ad: Peace of Mind Funerals'.

"The ad linked to a page on the Must Have Money Tips website articles.musthavemoneytips.co.uk, titled 'Thousands of UK Seniors are rushing to claim this new benefit in 2021'.

"All of the hyperlinks on that page linked to a page on the Peace of Mind Funeral Planning website.

"The content discovery network ad, seen on a local news website on 12 June 2021, included an image of a smiling woman holding up a letter with a green logo at the top and the text 'GREAT NEWS!'. 

"The rest of the letter’s text was illegible. The text underneath the image stated 'UK Seniors Born 1940 - 1970 Can Claim This Brilliant New Benefit', followed by text which stated 'Peace Of Mind | Sponsored' and a box which stated 'Sign Up'."

Right to reply

In its response to the ASA's investigation, Open Media Group, trading as musthavemoneytips.co.uk and Peace of Mind Funeral Planning (Open Media Group), said those who clicked through from the ads would have been presented with the Must Have Money Tips landing pages, which provided information about the benefit of having a pre-paid funeral plan.

It said: "The benefits referred to in the ads were that the price of a funeral in the future would be secured at today’s prices and plans for the arrangement of a funeral could be made in advance, removing some of the burden from the consumer’s family."

They said the ads referred to a 'new' benefit because the firms they worked with only provided funeral plans to consumers who did not already have one; any plan would therefore be new for the consumer.

The companies argued the first banner advert used the word 'benefit' as a verb and was unlikely to be interpreted to mean people were entitled to claim a new government or other benefit.

However, they acknowledged that in the second advert, the wording may have caused some consumers to interpret the word 'benefit' as a noun, and therefore referring to a government benefit.

The ads must not appear again in the form complained of.

According to the ASA: "They highlighted the Oxford Learners Dictionary listed the first noun definition of 'benefit' as 'an advantage that something gives you; a helpful and useful effect that something has'."

Also in their response, the companies claimed there were "thousands of seniors who benefited from the product each month", and they had measured the term 'seniors' against their target audience, and respondents who were over the age of 50 engaged well with ads where this description was used.

Open Media Group also said it was a digital marketing agency, which had been engaged to promote the benefit of a funeral plan. The ads clearly stated they were advertisements, which OMG considered made it clear to the audience that they were engaging with promoted content. 

It added: "The final landing page, on the Peace of Mind Funeral Planning website, stated in small print at the bottom of the page that Peaceofmindfunerals.co.uk was a trading name of Open Media Group.

"That was intended to give maximum clarity to the audience that the ad and landing pages were ads. Further details of the company’s registration information and Information Commissioner’s Office registration were provided to help the audience to not feel misled."

Upheld

However, the ASA considered consumers would interpret the reference to 'claim[ing]' a 'benefit' in the claim 'UK Seniors Born 1940 - 1970 Can Claim This Brilliant New Benefit' in the second advert to mean a new government or other benefit, and they could find out how to claim it by clicking.

The ASA said: "We further considered that the image of someone holding an envelope with the text 'GREAT NEWS!' on it reinforced that impression. We acknowledged that the word 'sponsored' was placed next to the wording 'Peace of Mind'.

"However, we considered that did not provide sufficient information to counteract the impression that the ad referred to a government or other benefit."

The ASA therefore ruled that the ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules (Misleading advertising) and (Substantiation).

The CAP Code requires ads not to falsely claim or imply that the marketer was acting as a consumer or for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession, and that ads must make clear their commercial intent.

It added: "The ads did not make clear that their purpose was principally to generate leads by gathering consumers’ personal information.

"Instead [it] implied that by clicking through from the ads consumers could access information about a new government benefit or other benefit for seniors.

"[Therefore] we concluded the marketer falsely implied that they were acting for purposes outside their trade, and had not made clear their commercial intent. The ads therefore breached the Code."

Outcome

The ASA said: "The ads must not appear again in the form complained of.

"We told Open Media Group Ltd t/a MustHaveMoneyTips.co.uk and Peace of Mind Funeral Planning to ensure that future marketing communications did not imply that consumers were entitled to claim a government or other benefit if that was not the case.

"We also told them not to refer to the opportunity to purchase a funeral plan or other product as a “benefit” or “claim[ing]” a “benefit”."

The ASA also instructed them not to use the term 'advertorial' or other similar terms to describe their ads.

Moreover, they were instructed to ensure their ads did not falsely imply they were acting for purposes outside of their trade, and to make clear their commercial intent and the nature of their business in their ads.

The ASA concluded: "We also told them to ensure their future marketing communications made clear that their purpose was to gather consumers' personal information for lead generation."

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com