Adverts for a so-called “British” clothing firm that used images of roses, cobbled streets and the Union flag – when it was in fact shipping goods from a warehouse in Asia – have been banned by the regulator.
The Advertising Standards Authority found that Marble Muse misled consumers into thinking it was a British-based brand with its use of images of models styled in backdrops including a countryside setting surrounded by roses and a cobbled London street.
The firm’s website, seen in May, featured an image of a handbag set against a city street backdrop, above text that read “British Brand” alongside a Union flag icon and the text “Free UK Shipping”.
Further down the page, an image showed a woman carrying a Marble Muse handbag while crossing a cobbled street framed by townhouses and shops.
In the “Contact Us” section, the company’s address was listed as an address in London.
Another page discussed Marble Muse’s founders, including the subheading “Our Beginnings” which stated that the brand was “founded in London”.
The BBC complained to the ASA that the website misleadingly implied that the company was based in the UK, as they understood the company was based in China, and breached advertising rules by omitting the identity and geographical address of the company.
Marble Muse did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
The ASA said: “We considered that consumers were likely to understand from those elements of the ad, that Marble Muse was based in the UK, specifically, London, when we understood that was not the case.
“While the ad did include a geographical address on the website, we noted that this appeared to be a residential address within a housing estate, with no visible indication that it was a place of business.
“We also noted that it was stated on the website that all returns were to be sent to the advertiser’s warehouse in Asia. We therefore considered that the address was unlikely to be a genuine business premises from which the advertiser operated.”
It ruled that the ads must not appear again, adding: “We told Marble Muse to ensure their advertising did not misleadingly state or imply they were based in the UK and, where their ads quoted prices for advertised products, to include the geographical address from which they operated.”
