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Boohoo and Zacharia Jewellers remove mislabelled clothing as fur flies with the ASA

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By John Glenday, Reporter

January 9, 2019 | 2 min read

The Advertising Standards Authority has forced retailers Boohoo and Zacharia Jewellers to remove real animal fur products from sale, following an investigation that revealed they were being falsely advertised as ‘faux fur’.

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Boohoo and Zacharia Jewellers remove mislabelled clothing as fur flies with the ASA

Misleading specifications falsely led consumers to believe the items they were buying were imitations rather than the real thing, flouting rules put in place by the Committtee of Advertising Practice.

Among the garments affected were a distinctive pompom jumper advertised by Boohoo and a separate pompon headband sold by Zacharia Jewelers on Amazon, after animal welfare charity Human Society International discovered they contained real fur.

Miles Lockwood, the ASA’s director of complaints, commented: “Consumers should be able to trust the ads they see and hear – and they certainly shouldn’t be misled into buying a faux fur product in good conscience only for it to turn out to be from a real animal.

“That’s not just misleading; it can also be deeply upsetting. Our rulings serve as an important notice to retailers and the clothing and textile industry about the need for truthfulness in their claims around faux fur products, and to get their house in order or face further action.”

Both retailers insisted they had themselves been misled by their suppliers into believing the products were fakes.

A growing outcry over the use of real animal skins in clothing has forced the likes of Burberry to ban the practice.

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