A Pure Cremation ad, which implied that the firm’s standard plan included an attended funeral service, has been buried by the ad watchdog for misleading consumers.
The ad, which ran in January, featured a woman standing in her home surrounded by drinks and plates of food, saying: “That was a great celebration. Dad would have loved it. He hated how expensive traditional funerals are, so he got a Pure Cremation funeral plan. He wanted his money to go to us, not funeral expenses.”
The woman continued: “It was a proper, dignified cremation. They were so respectful. Pure have their own beautiful crematorium and they hand-delivered his ashes in an urn, and stayed for a cup of tea and a chat. Then we used some of the money he saved to remember him our way.”
The camera then panned to show more of the food and drink, as well as flowers and family pictures as small print appeared onscreen which stated: “Pure cremations don’t include a ceremony at the crematorium so are more affordable than a traditional funeral.”
The Advertising Standards Authority received 12 complaints that the ad misleadingly implied the standard plan included an in-person service.
In its defence, Pure Cremation said the ad’s setting and wording were intended to show a private celebration taking place at home rather than a service at the crematorium. It insisted references to ashes being hand-delivered and staff staying for “a cup of tea and a chat” further emphasised the home setting, rather than the crematorium.
However, the ASA was having none of it, pointing out that Pure Cremation’s standard plan allowed mourners to attend the crematorium to receive their loved one’s ashes, but there was no commemorative service. It added: “We considered that describing the crematorium as ‘beautiful’ and the cremation as ‘dignified’ suggested a personal and ceremonial element to the service.
“We also considered viewers were likely to assume that the woman’s ability to describe the cremation in those terms meant she had some basis on which to reflect on the experience directly, and therefore that some form of attended ceremony or service had taken place, for which she had been present.”
While the watchdog maintained that references to hand-delivering ashes, or to staff staying for ‘a cup of tea and a chat’, would not necessarily imply, in isolation, that an attended service at the crematorium was included, in the context of the ad as a whole, it considered those references contributed to an impression of a personal and supported funeral experience.
The ASA also ruled that the disclaimer was not sufficient to override the overall impression created by the language used.
Banning the ad for being misleading, the watchdog went on to warn Pure Cremation over future activity.
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