But to your average joe, anything with “legal” and “action” in the same sentence is likely to raise the blood pressure. Legal problems are one of the last things they want arriving in their in-tray. Except this wasn’t really a legal threat. A company known as Brady Corporation Ltd t/a Seton, suppliers of health and safety products, thought it would be a good advertising ruse. They craftily sent out envelopes with the message printed under the address window.

However, after scaring a host of recipients, the ASA caught up with them…

ASA: The ASA considered that the claim “Legal Compliance – Action Required” on the envelope was likely to be understood by consumers to mean that it was necessary for them to take immediate action in order to be compliant with the law and that the mailing contained that documentation. We considered that the implication in the ad that the recipient may be in breach of the law, without making clear that only employers who failed to display the poster would need to take action, was likely to cause fear or distress without good reason to readers about the action they needed to take. We also considered that the claim “Legal Compliance” misleadingly implied to readers that the mailing contained legal documentation which was not the case.

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Squarely busted.