Cortizo Con And Schüco Sham Called Out By ASA

• Browse By Section
• News
• Cortizo Con And Schüco Sham Called Out By ASA

The Advertising Standards Authority has had to intervene in the window & door sector again after an online retailer claimed to have ‘official’ and ‘partner’ relationships with two of the biggest names in the industry.

UK Bi-Fold Door Factory, a window and door fitting company, made statements on its website (ukbifolddoorfactory.co.uk) that included: ‘Proud to work with world-leading systems for commercial and domestic products’. On the bottom of pages, logos appeared of different companies including one that stated: ‘Schüco Partner’ and ‘Cortizo’ with no claim of a connection.

However, text on a page entitled ‘Request A Quote’ stated: ‘Cortizo Approved’. Underneath that was a logo that stated: ‘Cortizo UK Official Dealer’. Underneath the logo, text stated: ‘Approved Manufacturer and Installers by world leading Cortizo. We are exclusive manufacturers of their innovative and luxury products’…additional text was included that is not under dispute.

Both Schüco and Cortizo are worldwide manufacturers of aluminium window, door and façade systems and in the UK are particularly known at consumer brand level for garden doors.

Complaint

The complainant, who understood that UK Bi-Fold Door Factory did not have an official partnership with either Schüco or Cortizo, challenged whether the advert was misleading.

The Advertising Standards Authority spokesperson said: “We considered that consumers would understand the inclusion of very specific references to Cortizo and  Schüco to mean that UK Bi-Fold Door Factory had an official partnership with those two businesses. And claims to be Cortizo Approved, UK Official Dealer and Approved Manufacturer and Installers would be interpreted in the same way. As UK Bi-Fold Door Factory did not provide any evidence to show that it had official partnerships with the two businesses, we concluded that the claims were misleading. The complaint was upheld.”

Action

The ASA has deemed that the advert must not appear again in the form complained of. The ASA spokesperson said: “We told UK Bi-Fold Door Factory Ltd not to claim or imply that they had official partnerships with Schüco or Cortizo or with other businesses and any public or other body if they had not. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.”

The Code

The CAP Code states that marketing communications must not claim that the marketer, the marketing communication or the advertised product had been approved, endorsed or authorised by any public or other body if it had not.

The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) is the rule book for non-broadcast advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing communications.

For more details – Click Here

For details of the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code) – Click Here

Picture: The UK Bifold Door Factory website is currently claiming to be the ‘Home Of Cortizo & Schüco Products In London’ in text overlaid on this picture which appears to be a domestic development in Greece using an Alumil International aluminium system.

www.alumil.com/international

www.cortizo.com/en

Article written by Brian Shillibeer
20th July 2023

Share

Related Articles