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On 29 June 2022, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a ruling against a social media advertisement for a wet wipe company with the claim ‘world’s purest wipes’. It was challenged whether the claim was verifiable and could be substantiated.
To provide verifiable substantiation of the claim, the brand provided:
- Proof of obtaining a registered EU trademark of the claim “World’s Purest Baby Wipe”.
- A third-party review of their global competitors showing a comparison on the number of ingredients contained and the proportion of water within.
- Argumentation that the advert contained no direct comparison to named competitor brands.
The ASA did not consider the evidence to adequately substantiate the claim. The code also states that comparison claims must objectively compare one or more material, relevant, verifiable and representative feature, which the claim did not.
The advert must not appear again in the current form and the brand must ensure they hold adequate evidence to substantiate comparative claims in future, and to ensure claims with identifiable competitors are verifiable.
