Safestyle ads banned after complaints to watchdog

Several Safestyle UK adverts have been banned by the advertising watchdog after 12 complaints.

The complaints related to two TV ads, two paid-for search results on Google and on a website, which were seen between November 2016 and March 2017, for several price promotions by Safestyle UK, touting “60% off” prices.

Eleven complainants to the Advertising Standards Authority challenged whether the savings claims in ads were misleading and could be substantiated. They understood that Safestyle UK had been offering all their windows and doors at discounted rates throughout 2016, said the ASA.

One complainant, who understood that the promotional discount was “up to” 60%, challenged whether that was made sufficiently clear in two of the ads.

Bradford-based HPAS Ltd, trading as Safestyle, accepted that confusion could have been caused due to complainants seeing different ads in different mediums for different sales. In addition, a promotional calendar showed that from June 2016 to February 2017, there were 114 days of promotion and 131 days of non-promotion.

Clearcast said they received assurances from Safestyle UK that the promotion complied with all relevant regulations and guidelines including the pricing practices guidance from Trading Standards.

The ASA decreed that the ads must not appear again in their current forms and reiterated to Safestyle that future savings claims should not mislead and to ensure they substantiated savings against the usual selling price of their products.

This is not the first time Safestyle has been in trouble with the watchdog, with complaints made in 2015, 2014 and 2011.