Barloworld Plascon loses ASA ruling

The case goes back to 2004, when Plascon initially filed a complaint with the ASA on the basis that Universal's paint advertisement could potentially be misleading and again in 2005 regarding Universal's claim that the paint product was "Best by Test".

The ASA requested substantiation regarding the claims made in the adverts.

The substantiation was supplied in the form of the results of an independent comparative study commissioned by a potential foreign investor and conducted in 2004 by the Centre for Polymer Technology at the Tshwane University of Technology (formerly the unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) to test the paints of six leading paint manufacturers in Gauteng.

The study found that Universal Paints was the only brand out of the six brands tested to be SABS-compliant and pass with 100% performance in all three categories tested, and the only brand tested to pass the gloss enamel tests. Universal was also on average the least expensive, according to the report.

Universal's CEO Tony Ferreira says that these study results prompted him to use the 'Best by Test' in his ad campaigns. Now with the ASA ruling, he says he will carry on using the tagline, as it is a major unique selling point (USP) for Universal.

Ferreira started Universal Paints 25 years ago. "Since inception we have focused on bringing superior quality paint to the people at a price they can afford," he says. "Just because a paint is more expensive does not mean that it is of a higher quality, and the research and the ASA ruling proves just that."