Darlington pizza restaurant has advertising complaint against takeaway rival upheld
A restaurant in Darlington has had its claim to the first wood-fired pizza oven in the town upheld after challenging another restaurant's advert for the same.
Roosters restaurant, based in the County Durham town, objected to an advert from neighbouring restaurant Stone Bake saying that it had "the very first authentic wood-fired Italian pizza oven in Darlington". Roosters argued that its pizza oven had been installed before that of Stone Bake, rendering the latter's claim invalid.
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) agreed, upholding the complaint and judging Stone Bake's claim to be "misleading" under its code, namely rules 3.1 (misleading advertising) and 3.7 (substantiation). It said that the owner of Roosters had used a portable wood-fired pizza oven in Darlington High Street in 2009, with a permanent model installed in 2010, before Stone Bake's oven was built.
The ASA condemned Stone Bake's activities and said the advert concerned should not appear again in its current form.
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