A few months ago I wrote a column on putting your money were your mouth was, where I talked about the importance of only claiming something that you can back up with hard evidence.
A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some research into the use of social media by tile firms and came across a prime example of what the Advertising Standards Authority would categorise as misleading advertising. There are very few tile companies forward thinking enough to be using Facebook at present and most of the handful that are aren’t really utilising it to its full potential but what caught my eye was the fact that one of these is claiming to be “Britain’s Biggest Tiles Distributor” and when I went on to their website the “largest UK stockist and distribution centre of porcelain, porcelain mosaics, glass mosaics & metal mosaics”. The company in question is listed as a small company by Companies House, has 3 showrooms and £450,000 worth of stock in their last published accounts. Now if you look at CTD for example, it is not possible to separate out the tile business from the other activities of Saint Gobain Building Limited but CTD has 50 showrooms and a large part of the £60.6 million stock held in that company’s last declared accounts, so this claim seemed to me to be somewhat dubious and open to question.
The Committee of Advertising Practice code states that “Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so”. Claims made in any advert in any medium must be clear and verifiable. It is unlikely that many tile companies are going to be reported to the ASA for the claims that they make as, with the exception of Topps, they are not household brands. But exaggerating the facts or claiming to be something that the company is not will only result in disappointed customers who will go elsewhere and tell their friends, colleagues and acquaintances about their experience. So I would strongly advise that you put your money where your mouth is and don’t make claims that you can’t back up.
