Advertisment
The advertisement was a post on the Ladybird Driving School’s Facebook page which claimed that their school had the highest pass rate nationwide for pupils passing their driving test. The post included the following two statements:
‘132 pupils passed their driving test in July..’ and ‘Anyone looking at this post will understand that Ladybird has the highest Passrate (sic) nationwide’.
Complaint
The complainant considered the advertising misleading as they said that unless the advertiser could show they had a higher number of former students successful in passing their driving tests compared to other driving schools, they could not claim to have the highest pass rate nationwide.
Response
The advertisers responded that they obtained the figure of 132 pupils from the daily passes they posted on their social media that they then counted at the end of the month. The advertiser said that the numbers were not manufactured and that they could prove them. The advertiser said that their competitors did not have the same methods nor figures to prove test pass rates. They provided a link to their Trustpilot rating and said that they had the highest number of Trustpilot reviews in Ireland as no competitor of theirs had even 1/10th of their reviews.
The advertisers, while standing over their claim, offered to remove the post in question to resolve the matter.
Conclusion
Complaint Upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertiser’s response. The Committee noted that the claim to have the highest pass rate nationwide was based on the number of former students who had passed their driving test. The Committee noted the requirements of the Code in regard to evidencing claims and in this case, no comparative evidence had been provided to substantiate the claim “highest passrate (sic) nationwide”. In the absence of such evidence, the Committee considered that the advertising claim was in breach of Sections 4.1, 4.4, 4.9 and 4.10 of the Code.
ACTION REQUIRED:
The advertising must not appear again in its current form unless substantiation is provided for the claims made in the advertising.
