Spicerhaart to contest watchdog's ruling on advert

21 June 2010 | By Natalie Thomas

Spicerhaart plans to appeal against a decision by the Advertising Stan-dards Authority to ban another of its advertisements.

The property specialist has now had six of its adverts banned by the watchdog. The latest was banned for breaching ASA guidelines on truth-fulness and substantiation.

The complaint was about an advert for Haart estate agents that included the phrase ’working to get you the best possible price, in the fastest possible time - talk to Haart of Shenley’.

A complainant said the advert was misleading because it implied Haart had an office in Shenley, which he believed was not the case.

Spicerhaart says its Milton Keynes super-branch covers an extended area and although it does not have physical branches in some locations the central office has staff dedicated to Shenley.

But the ASA upheld the com-plaint on the grounds that the advert made multiple references to ’Haart of Shenley’ and that most consumers would understand the phrase to mean that Haart had a specialist base in the area.

A spokesman for Spicerhaart says the firm fundamentally disagrees with the adjudication and that the advert did not imply it had an office in Shenley but rather had staff dedicated to the area.

He says: “By deciding that virtual offices cannot be advertised in this way the ASA is undermining new business models and going against the Office of Fair Trading’s desire to shake up the industry.

“It’s like saying a local vicar is not part of the community because they live in a neighbouring parish. It’s nonsense.”

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