Household

The advertisement was seen as a post on the advertisers’ Instagram account and featured a red sketch of a clock. In the top right corner was an image of a house alarm with the advertisers’ brand name written on it. Text included on the image stated, “Ireland’s fastest alarm response rate: with 15 seconds.”

A complaint was received from Action24 against the advertisement. They considered that the advertising was misleading to consumers as it was simply not possible for the claim to be substantiated. The complainant said it was not possible for the advertisers to have knowledge of how quickly every other alarm monitoring company responded to alarm activations.

The advertisers explained that their Alarm Receiving Centre team recorded the time it took for each agent to respond to an alarm activation. They said they then looked at the average monthly figures and took the average response time over a 3-month period. They confirmed that they do claim to respond to alarms within 15 seconds and that they have a website landing page detailing the claim so that customers have full transparency around the claim and can see their updated figures.

The advertisers said that until the end of June, the response rate was 12.83 seconds (April – 13 seconds, May – 13 seconds and June – 12.5 seconds). They clarified that when they use the 15 seconds alarm response claim in their advertising, they explain the claim so that consumers are fully aware of what they are referring to and to ensure they aren’t misled. The advertisers said that when they used the ‘respond within 15 seconds’ claim on radio, they engaged with the copy clearance process of the major broadcasters and provided the substantiation documentation to them, and that this was approved.

The advertisers said that they valued everyone’s feedback and respectfully reviewed and took all complaints seriously. They said they acknowledged that alarm response time was important and that they had seen from competitor advertising that their alarm response time was faster than others. The advertisers explained that they have strong KPIs in place and sufficient volumes of efficient staff working to ensure that they consistently respond to alarms within 15 seconds and to provide their customers with a fast and quality service.

Complaint Upheld.

The Complaints Council considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response.

In line with the requirements of the Code, the Council noted that neither the basis of selection which demonstrated that the elements of comparison were fair had been provided, nor had substantiation such as independent research or market share data which evidenced that the 15 second alarm response rate was the fastest in Ireland. As this was a comparative claim, substantiation showing the response rates of all other alarm monitoring companies in Ireland, or similar would be required.

In light of this, the Complaints Council considered that the use of the claim within the advertising had the potential to mislead and that the advertising therefore breached the Code at sections 4.01, 4.04, 4.09, 4.10, 4.32, and 4.33.

ACTION REQUIRED:

The advertisement should not reappear in its current form unless the basis of comparison and substantiation is provided for the claim used.