ASA Adjudication on Stylus Sports Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad and a direct mailing for Deluxe Club bingo. a. The regional press ad stated "Deluxe Hastings Pier Would like to congratulate the Hastings Bingo winner of £339,549 Won Sunday 27th January 2008 Walk in and Win! See you at the Pier ... ". b. The direct mailing stated "Deluxe CLUBS Dear Player, On Sunday Afternoon 27th January, one lucky Hastings customer won a staggering £339,549 on the National Game and I'm sure you will join us in congratulating them on their massive WIN!! Come down to the Deluxe "Bingo on the Pier" and you can be a winner too ...".

Issue

Coastal Amusements Ltd challenged whether the ad and mailing misleadingly implied that the money had been won at the Deluxe Club when in fact it had been won at one of their venues.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Deluxe Clubs confirmed that the sum of £339,549 was won at one of the complainant's venues.  They explained that the ad and mailing were produced in good faith with the intention of congratulating the winner on their good fortune and to advertise to their players the large sums that could be won by playing the National Bingo Game.  Deluxe Clubs said they had reviewed and implemented changes to their advertising to ensure that future material was produced correctly and clearly.  They assured the ASA that the ads would not be repeated.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted ad (a) stated "... Hastings Pier would like to congratulate the Hastings Bingo winner ... Walk in and Win!" and ad (b) stated "one lucky Hastings customer won £339,549 ... Come down to the Deluxe "Bingo on the Pier" and you can be a winner too".  We considered that readers of the ads were likely to infer from the text in ads (a) and (b) that the money had been won in Hastings Pier Deluxe Club bingo hall.  Because we understood that that was not the case, we concluded that the regional press ad and mailing were misleading.   

The regional press ad and mailing breached CAP Code clauses clause 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not breach 3.1 (Substantiation) or 6.1 (Honesty).

Action

We told Deluxe Clubs not to repeat the approach and advised them to contact the CAP Copy Advice team for guidance with future ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)