Advertisment
A search engine advertisement stated the following:
“Best essential oils in Ireland | for health, wellness & beauty
AD www.essentialoils.ie/
High quality essential oils for natural healthcare and beauty. Come and visit. High quality products. Great customer service. Brands: [BRAND NAME], [BRAND NAME], [BRAND NAME]”
Complaint
The complainants, Unicorn Aromatherapy, considered the claim “Best essential oils in Ireland | for health, wellness & beauty” to be misleading to the public. They did not consider that it could be substantiated in any way.
Response
The advertisers said that they were surprised to see that the expression “Best essential oils in Ireland” had been used, and that they did not spot it before. They advised that they changed the text to just “Essential Oils in Ireland” and had removed the word “best”.
The advertisers explained that they were a tiny company with one person in charge of marketing and most aspects of the business. They said they had been aware of the fact that there were things that must not be said in advertising, such as making unsubstantiated claims like being the best or similar. They said they were unsure if this was one of the very early advertisements from before they learned about the unsubstantiated claims, a test advertisement that should not have been published, or if this had been created while being on the call with one of the search engine advisors.
The advertisers said that they created the content and put it up online, and could only put it down to either a lack of knowledge or an oversight at their end. They said they checked all other advertisements and they were all fine. They said that only this one advertisement out of a series of advertisement texts was incorrect.
Conclusion
Complaint Upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response and that the advertisement had been amended once the advertisers became aware of the complaint.
The Committee noted that substantiation had not been provided for the claim ‘Best Essential Oils in Ireland’. In the circumstances they considered that the advertisement was in breach of Code Sections 4.9, 4.10 and 4.33.
ACTION REQUIRED:
As the advertisement had already been amended there is no further action required. The absolute claim must not be used again in its current format unless it is appropriately qualified.
