The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has ruled against the AA after complaints about claims it made in a TV advert and on its website.
A voice-over in the TV advert stated: “With more patrols, more specialist skills and more expertise than anyone else, we are the Automobile Association. We are the AA.” And the website included the claim: “With more expertise than anyone else, we’ve seen it all before.”
RAC Motoring Services and a member of the public challenged whether the claims that the AA had more specialist skills and expertise than their competitors were misleading and could be substantiated.
The ASA concluded that the claims “… more specialist skills and more expertise than anyone else” and “With more expertise than anyone else” had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading.
It ruled that the adverts must not appear again in their current form, and told told Automobile Association Developments Ltd to ensure it was in a position to substantiate objective claims in future, including those that made comparisons with competitors.