Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A trade press ad for an Electrolux vacuum cleaner has been deemed misleading for claiming that its suction power delivered superior cleaning.
Rival Dyson complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about the ad for the Electrolux Intensity, which stated: “The new Intensity is so powerful, it surpasses the suction power of the leading upright in the UK by over 50%, giving your customers an intense deep clean.”
Dyson believed that “the leading upright in the UK” referred to its DC14 vacuum cleaner.
The ASA agreed that the Intensity did have 50% more suction power than the DC14, as well as other vacuum cleaners tested, but said that that did not mean that it gave an “intense deep clean”.
It ruled that the effectiveness of the brush roll or agitator and the measure of airflow in transporting dirt into the receptacle mostly determined a vacuum cleaner’s cleaning performance.
The ASA upheld the complaint, and told Electrolux not to make claims about suction power without demonstrating dust removal ability.
