Aira heat pump advert was “misleading”
8th August 2025
UK: A social media advert by the UK subsidiary of Swedish heat pump manufacturer has been considered misleading and banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA, which oversees and regulates the content of advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing in the UK, objected to a Meta social media advert, seen on 5 March 2025. It featured an image of a boiler and a heat pump with the caption: “Ditch your gas boiler for an Aira heat pump today […] £7,500 grant available”.
The ASA pointed out that it did not include information about eligibility criteria having to be satisfied in order to receive the grant.
Aira Home UK said the advert was only targeted at homeowners living in England and Scotland where £7,500 government grants were available, and they did not believe that a consumer would interpret the ad to mean the grants were given automatically and without conditions.
The company explained that a grant was available to homeowners in England and Wales under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) and in Scotland under the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme (HESG&L).
Under the ASA’s UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code), marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. Guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) advised that if marketers referred to government funding anywhere in their marketing, they should be clear that access to funding was subject to a consumer meeting the eligibility criteria.
The ASA argued that the advert gave the impression consumers would be automatically eligible to receive a government grant of £7,500 and it did not make clear the government funding for a heat pump was subject to eligibility.
“We considered that was material information that should have been included. Because the ad omitted material information, we concluded it was likely to mislead,” the ASA said.
The ASA found that the advert breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 and 3.9 (Misleading advertising).
Aira was advised to ensure that if ads referred to the government grants for heat pumps they must include all material information, including that eligibility criteria applied.
