We had previously raised concerns with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) regarding the use by Britannia Fire Ltd (“Britannia Fire”) of phrases such as “service free”, “corrosion free”, etc. Subsequently the ASA determined our complaint in March 2017, with Britannia Fire agreeing to amend or withdraw advertising. Further details with links to the ASA’s publications can be found here.

Although some positive changes were made by Britannia, we have since raised further concerns, and ultimately feeling we had no choice but to again involve the ASA.

As before, we will respect the confidentiality of the ASA’s processes, but are able to comment on material that is in the public domain. We would comment that:

• Although we can’t comment upon what issues we raised with the ASA, we can say that Britannia’s advertising at the applicable time caused us to have several concerns.
• since we first contacted the ASA, we note that Britannia have amended their advertising’s wording. For example claims as to “100% recyclable” have been amended¹;
• the ASA will often not rule on matters when an advertiser voluntarily agrees to make changes to their wording;
• above example of amended wording was not covered by the ASA’s 2018 ruling.

Of the concerns we had, one fairly narrow point was subsequently determined by the ASA. Although we were disappointed that the ASA did not uphold our complaint, it is important to note that ASA’s 2018 ruling does affect the outcome of the original, and we would suggest, far more significant, 2017 complaint.

It remains encouraging to see Britannia making further changes to improve the accuracy of their advertising. We obviously remain concerned that some changes only follow the ASA’s involvement however. We will as always keep an eye on these issues going forward.

We will keep Britannia Fire’s adherence to the agreement under observation in the coming days and are also currently following up on other concerns. We will of course continue to work with the ASA where appropriate to help ensure fair and responsible fire-industry marketing whether by Britannia Fire, distributors that may propagate irresponsible claims, or otherwise.

Further Information

Fire extinguishers should be selected and positioned in accordance with BS 5306-8, commissioned in accordance with BS 5306-3 and maintained in accordance with BS 5306-3. If you are an end-user and wish to arrange this, please contact us.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) can also be reached on 020 7492 2222.

“Britannia”, “Britannia Fire”, “Fireworld” and “P50” are not trademarks of Anderstore Ltd, but may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Footnotes and References

1. e.g. Britannia Fire’s webpage “Composite Marine Fire Extinguisher P50F6M”