Pastel Software's claim of "9 out of every 10 accountants recommend Pastel" has been deemed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to be misleading.
The ASA has instructed Pastel to withdraw, with immediate effect, all advertising, packaging and point-of-sale material that uses this misleading claim.
The deceptive content of this long-standing claim was revealed when ACCPAC commissioned Pulse Research and Marketing to conduct a survey to establish the validity of the claim.
The survey not only disproved the "9 out of 10 claim", it revealed that, contrary to popular belief, the majority [over 60%] of accountants surveyed do not recommend any software at all".
Jeremy Waterman, MD of ACCPAC Africa, notes that Pulse's research was thorough, with 200 recorded telephone interviews having been conducted between 11 and 18 November 2002. "Contact names were sourced from two lists, namely the Public Accountants and Auditors Board list, and List SA's Gauteng-based business list."
Based on the research results, ACCPAC launched a short-term advertising campaign to try and counter the increased exposure of the misleading advertising campaign. Our advertising advised the market of the facts by stating that "6 out of 10 accountants do not recommend any brand of accounting software". "Not surprisingly, this caused a stir in the market and we were asked to discontinue our ad campaign pending further investigation by the ASA," says Waterman.
ACCPAC gave the results of its research to the ASA and the ruling came back a few weeks later in the form of an official statement: "a misleading impression is created by the advert that the claim contained therein is correct in an unqualified manner". Accordingly, the company in question has been instructed to withdraw the advertisement with immediate effect.
Waterman adds: "We were not surprised at the research surveys results and are appreciative that the ASA proved it does play an important role protecting consumer interests by ensuring honesty in advertising and exposing those who try and exploit through misleading claims."
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ACCPAC International, Inc, a subsidiary of Computer Associates, empowers medium-sized enterprises through a broad range of end-to-end e-business solutions designed to enhance competitive advantage and increase profitability. Product lines include ACCPAC Advantage Series, ACCPAC Pro Series, ACCPAC HR Series, ACCPAC Business Analysis Suite, ACCPAC eTransact, ACCPAC Exchange, ACCPAC eCRM, ACCPAC Warehouse Management System, ACCPAC e POS, Simply Accounting, FAXserve and ACCPAC Messenger.
Based in Pleasanton, California, USA, with offices in Asia, Australia, Canada, Mexico, the Middle East, SA and the UK, ACCPAC has more than 500 000 registered clients and 5 000 business partners in more than 100 countries worldwide. Visit ACCPAC at www.accpac.com or www.accpaconline.com or in Africa call 27-11-8037327 or visit www.accpac.co.za or www.accpaconline.co.za.