Manchester Pride are being forced to amend their claims of how many people attend their event each day in promotional literature after a complaint was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The complaint, which was made in May by the group Facts About Manchester Pride (FAMP) but has since been resolved, related to information contained in the application pack for a food concession at Pride this year.
Paul Wheatley, who made the complaint, believed that original figures led to a misleading value of what a concession pitch would be worth.
One challenge related to the quoted attendance figures which could not be guaranteed by the organisation and so will now be based on data of previous year’s attendance.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have also confirmed that Pride will have to specify when entertainment will be playing and clarify the access that ticketholders have over the course of the weekend of the event.
“I’m not in the habit of making frivolous complaints, nor are the ASA in the habit of upholding them,” Mr Wheatley said.
“I’m not at all surprised with the outcome as I make many complaints to the ASA, mostly about Daily Deals companies, and I have a good sense for what is likely to be upheld.
“We live in lean times, and a catering pitch at Manchester Pride costs up to £6,000.
“Caterers need to know, as far as possible, how many people to expect at the event to choose a pitch and even whether attending is viable, how much stock to bring, how many staff to bring, and to accurately compare it to anything else happening in the UK on that Bank Holiday weekend.”
The ASA confirmed in a letter to Mr Wheatley that the situation had been resolved naturally, with Manchester Pride guaranteeing that the figures would be amended.
Investigations Executive Tom Marshall said: “They have assured us that future marketing materials will be amended.”
Because Pride made such assurances, the ASA decided not to follow up with a formal investigation which would only hope to ‘achieve the same outcome’.
However a log of the action was published on the ASA’s website today under the ‘informally resolved cases’ section, which can be seen below.
Manchester Pride declined to comment on the matter.
RESOLVED: Complaint against Manchester Pride logged on the ASA website after it was ‘informally resolved’
Picture courtesy of One Eyed Vision, with thanks.
For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.
