“No veneer in ’ere!”
ADVERTISING watchdogs have backtracked after slamming a furniture company’s TV ad as misleading.
The Advertising Standards Authority had originally upheld a complaint about Oak Furnitureland in October last year. But they have reversed the decision after hearing additional evidence which put the retailer, which has shops in Gateshead and Stockton, in the clear.
The row was over the phrase “no veneer in ‘ere” used in television ads.
The original adjudication upheld a complaint that the phrase was misleading.
The ASA said some of the company’s products were partly made using a technique known as oak wrapping.
The watchdogs said customers would take oak wrapping to be another name for veneer.
Other phrases in the ad, such as “100% hardwood” and “solid hardwood” were also questioned.
At the time Oak Furnitureland said they would appeal against the decision, and the ASA adjudication was later changed after a review.
Jason Bannister, CEO and founder of Oak Furnitureland, said the first adjudication had caused confusion.
He said: “Just under a year ago the ASA questioned our motives and went against its own experts, thousands of consumers, and took a mistaken view on what ‘solid’ and ‘veneer’ meant.
“The implications of this went far past Oak Furnitureland and this decision made it harder for consumers to make an informed choice around quality in many areas of their lives, not just when choosing furniture, but when buying kitchens, doors, floors, the list goes on and on. We could not stand by and let this happen.
“Almost a year later the ASA has reversed its original decision and they have confirmed that our furniture is 100% solid and we do not use veneers.
“Our messages of ‘no veneer in ‘ere’ and ‘100% Solid Hardwood’ let consumers know that Oak Furnitureland is fully transparent and open about the materials that are used to make our furniture. Oak Furnitureland at Metro Retail Park, Gateshead
“We use solid hardwood all of the time. There is no confusion and never should have been.”
The row was over wrapping used on the legs of dining room tables.
The new adjudication clarified the ASA’s understanding of the word “veneer”. It said: “We understood that the oak wrap technique used by Oak Furnitureland on various dining table legs involved gluing numerous small segments of hardwood together, with a thin outer layer of hardwood wrapped around them.
“We considered that some people would describe the oak-wrap as veneered because the outer layer of wood hid from view the actual components used to construct the furniture.
“However, we considered that ‘veneer’ had a more common meaning to the average consumer, which was an outer layer of wood that covered an inner base material such as MDF or plywood.
“Because none of Oak Furnitureland’s furniture contained any cheaper material such as MDF or plywood, and because the oak-wrap technique was restricted to only the legs of the dining tables, while the rest of the tables were made from solid exposed wood, we concluded that the claims ‘no veneer’, ‘solid hardwood’ and ‘100% solid hardwood’ were unlikely to mislead the average consumer into taking a transactional decision that they otherwise would not have taken.”