IN November last year the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) ruled that readership claims made by the Hillcrest Fever were unsubstantiated and ruled that the newspaper withdraw the advertisement.
Given that similar rulings had been made against the Hillcrest Fever’s sister publication, the Zululand Fever, both of which were part of the Media 24 stable of publications the ASA ruled at the time sanctions were warranted but afforded both parties a chance to comment on the issue of sanctions.
The Zululand Fever was put on AD Alert and required to pre-clear its advertising after repeated contraventions of the ASA code.
In order to avoid having to apologise to readers and make a donation to charity, as requested by the Highway Mail, the Hillcrest Fever argued that it is owned by a different company within the Media24 group to that which owns the Zululand Fever.
The Advertising Standards Authority has now ruled on that it could not penalise the Hillcrest Fever for belonging to a different company in the group of newspapers that have had other ASA rulings against other members.
The Highway Mail considers that the ASA has relied on form instead of substance. It nevertheless accepts the ruling, but notes that the Hillcrest Fever, as well as other Fever titles are now on caution from the ASA not to run misleading or unsubstantiated advertising.
