The Stage

ASA raps Hidden Faces again for misleading adverts

Published Wednesday 23 April 2008 at 11:40 by Matthew Hemley

Casting agency Hidden Faces has been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority for distributing misleading adverts, marking yet another ruling the watchdog has made against the firm.

The adjudication follows a complaint that an advert by Hidden Talent - which the ASA identified as a trading name for Hidden Faces - claimed to provide actors for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five and Sky productions.

Equity walk-on councillor Clive Hurst challenged whether the company could prove its casting claims. Although the company had paid invoices that showed it had supplied extras to work on recent BBC and Five productions, it could not prove any of its clients had actually worked on the other broadcasters’ shows.

Hidden Faces had email correspondence showing extras had been put forward for shows by these broadcasters, but said documentation proving its clients had worked on them had since been lost.

The ASA found the agency had not been able to prove it had provided extras for three of the five credits cited and ruled that the advert was misleading.

It has since ordered the company to amend its material to include “only those credits for which they held substantiation”.

The ruling follows one in 2005, when it linked itself to EastEnders, despite not being an approved agency the BBC used for the show.

In 2006, another ASA adjudication ruled that Hidden Faces could not substantiate its claims that the BBC was one of its clients.

Hidden Faces has also been the subject of investigations by the Daily Mirror and the BBC.

Hurst said the ASA should now refer the agency to Trading Standards for prosecution to prevent further misleading adverts being distributed.