ASA Adjudication on The Great British Mobility Group Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for mobility chairs stated, "At Great British Mobility we make your chair to your dimensions ... If you buy one chair we'll give you a second chair absolutely free". On-screen text stated "On selected ranges. The free item must cost no more than the chosen item and be ordered at the same time".

Issue

A viewer objected that the ad was misleading and challenged whether the "buy one get one free" offer was genuine.

BCAP TV Code

Response

The Great British Mobility Group Ltd (Great British Mobility) said the offer only applied to selected ranges. They sent invoices relating to four of their chair ranges which they said demonstrated that their "buy one get one free" (BOGOF) offer was genuine.

Clearcast said the finished commercial was approved on the basis of substantiation provided by the advertiser.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the receipts provided by Great British Mobility. We considered viewers would understand from the headline claim "if you buy one chair we'll give you a second chair absolutely free" combined with on-screen text stating "on selected ranges" that a significant number of Great British Mobility's chairs were included in the offer. We accepted we had seen some recent receipts to support the fact that the BOGOF offer was genuine on two of Great British Mobility's chair ranges. However, we were concerned that Great British Mobility had not shown that sufficient numbers of chairs were included in the offer to avoid consumers being misled or disappointed. We advised Great British Mobility to hold robust evidence to show that consumers had a reasonable chance of taking advantage of the offer before making the claim again.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.3 (Qualifications).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)