Two more advertisements for heat pumps have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading consumers about installation costs. The ruling about online advertising campaigns from heat pump suppliers Aira and EDF Energy comes a week after the ASA banned an advert from Octopus energy for claiming that heat pumps could be installed for as little as £500.
The paid-for Meta advert for Aira featured an image of a boiler and a heat pump, with text inviting consumers to ditch their gas boiler for an Aira heat pump today… £7,500 grant available. The ASA challenged whether the ad was misleading because it omitted material information about the government funding available for installing heat pumps, ruling that it should be clear that access to funding was subject to a consumer meeting the elgibility criteria.
Similarly a paid-for Google advert for EDF featured an image of an air source heat pump with text stating that a £7,500 grant would be available with an EDF air source heat pumps. Again, the ASA challenged whether the ad was misleading because it omitted material information about the government funding available for installing heat pumps.
The ASA said of both adverts: “We considered that it was material information that should have been included. Because the ad omitted material information, we concluded it was likely to mislead.”
