ASA Adjudication on Luminar Leisure Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad for a reader competition; the winning prize was a guitar. The ad was headed “Win this exclusive Jack’s axe!” and stated “Jumpin Jaks has teamed up with the News/Gazette to offer readers over 18 the chance to win a limited edition Jack Daniel’s Fender Strat electric guitar worth over £500 - a prize that can’t be bought in the shops”. The guitar was pictured in the ad.

Issue

The complainant, who had won the prize, challenged whether:

1. the claim "worth over £500" could be substantiated, because she believed the guitar was worth no more than £100;

2. the description "Fender Strat" was misleading, because it implied the guitar was a Fender Stratocaster guitar and the prize received was actually a "Squier Fender Affinity Strat" and

3. the guitar pictured in the ad was the same guitar given as the prize.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Luminar said they had been informed at the time of going to press that the prize would be a Jack Daniel's detailed Fender guitar. In order to establish the value of the prize their marketing department undertook research into the retail value of Fender guitars and the associated limited edition rarity value of the Jack Daniel's livery attached to the guitar. They said the valuation placed on the guitar was made on the assumption that it was a Fender Affinity Strat guitar. They said the research conducted was based on the information they had received; they had been provided with information and illustrations for the ad from their supplier. They said they had not at any time intended to mislead or exploit those taking part in the competition but merely sought to put a value on a prize that could not be purchased in the shops due to its limited edition nature.

They said the "Squier" was a Fender brand extension, which was wholly owned by the Fender Corporation and they believed the Squier Fender Affinity Strat was a recognised guitar made by the Fender corporation.

Luminar said the supplier of the guitar had told them that the guitar pictured in the ad was the same as the prize received by the complainant. They said the Jack Daniel's decoration was different but that that was the only difference; the guitar pictured was a Squier Fender Affinity Strat guitar.

Bedfordshire newspapers said they had published the competition in good faith using information supplied by Luminar. They said they had dealt with Luminar successfully on several occasions in the past. They said the finished proof of the layout was cleared for publication by Luminar, as the competition organisers. They said one of their own production team involved in preparing the competition for publication was a guitarist with more than a layman's knowledge of the subject and he had not noticed any problems with the ad copy or the picture supplied.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Luminar had based their estimate of the worth of the guitar on the information they had at the time and on the rarity value of the Jack Daniel's livery attached to the guitar. However, we noted the complainant had contacted several specialist music shops and had been told that the guitar was worth no more than £100. We also understood, from visiting various internet music shops as well as the official "Fender Squier" site, that the retail value of the Squier Fender Affinity Strat was between £100 and £150. We acknowledged that the Jack Daniel's livery would attach some further value to the guitar but noted from pictures sent by the complainant that the Jack Daniel's livery was merely a large clear sticker that had been placed on the guitar. We considered, therefore, that the claim "worth £500" could not be substantiated, because the retail value of the guitar was between £100 and £150 and the Jack Daniel's livery was unlikely to increase the worth of the guitar by a significant amount.

We acknowledged that the Squier series of guitars was another brand of the Fender Corporation. However, we noted the Squier series was a budget range and the main range of Fender Stratocaster's cost significantly more. We noted Luminar had received confirmation from their supplier that the guitar pictured in the ad was the same as the one the complainant received, apart from the different Jack Daniel's logo. However, we noted all Squier Fender Affinity Strat guitars had "Squier" printed on the head of the guitar and that was not printed on the head of the guitar pictured in the ad. The picture sent by the complainant showed that "Squier" was printed on the head of the guitar she had received.

We concluded that the ad was misleading, because the retail value of the guitar was no more than £150. We also considered that because the ad not only stated that the guitar was a "Fender Strat" but also that it was "worth £500" most readers would be likely to assume that the guitar was a Fender "Stratocaster" rather than a "Squier Fender" or at least that it was not a budget range guitar. In addition we considered that the combination of the description of the guitar with the picture, which was not exactly the same as that received as the prize, was likely to mislead readers about the type of guitar that was on offer.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 6.1 (Honesty), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 27.4 (Sales Promotion Rules).

Action

We told Luminar to ensure that they had the correct information about the prizes they planned to offer before publishing any future ads and to ensure that they accurately described and pictured prizes in their ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)