A woman who stopped her mother’s cremation process after she found out it would not include a traditional service believes her mother was “misled” by the company.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled against online cremation firm Pure Cremation, based in Andover, Hampshire, after concluding that an advert “misleadingly implied” that its standard package included an in-person funeral service, when that was not the case.
Carla Linford, from Grimsby, is the daughter of Val Linford who died aged 77 in March. She said the company treated her death “like it was a sale to them”.
Pure Cremation said it has made changes to the advert and the revised version is live as of Wednesday.
In its ruling, the ASA said Pure Cremation’s original advert, that aired in January, featured a woman standing in her home surrounded by various plates of food and a selection of drinks describing a “great celebration”.
Pure Cremation said “the ad first went live in November 2024 and has run continuously since then”.
The ASA said a disclaimer stated the cremations don’t include a ceremony at the crematorium before the camera panned to show more of the food and drink items, as well as flowers and family pictures, with on-screen text stating: “Get your free quote for Britain’s favourite funeral plan”.
The ASA concluded that the disclaimer “was not sufficient to override the overall impression created by the language used in the ad” and ruled that it must be taken off screens.
A spokesperson for Pure Cremation said: “The ASA acknowledged that the setting of the ad was intended to show a send-off taking place at home after the cremation, but ruled that the ad needed to be explicit that the cremation is not attended by family, so the wording onscreen (which previously said there was no crematorium service) has been amended to reflect that.”