In December, CAP’s quarterly e-mail newsletter, Update@CAP, warned advertisers running special offers and sales promotions to be aware of the CAP policy on “free” claims. The reminder came at the end of a year when several sales promotions had been deemed by the ASA to breach the CAP Code’s Sales Promotions rules.

A spring promotion by Avon Cosmetics offered a free Pay As You Go mobile phone to customers who spent £15 or more on a particular skin care range. The availability of the offer was challenged by consumers who had not received their phone or a substitute product. The promoters explained to the ASA that they had estimated the number of phone vouchers required based on demand for previous, similar promotions but in its ruling the ASA expressed concern that the previous promotion had offered a gift of much smaller value. In its judgement, the ASA upheld the complaints and told the promoters to take greater care in estimating demand for free gifts in the future.

The ASA also ruled that Avon’s offer of half price skin cream to disappointed customers could be deemed as merely a goodwill gesture, not a substitute for the phone.

Other promotions that did not meet the requirements of the Code included a Daily Sport front-page flash suggesting that the newspaper was on offer for only 10p whereas the cover price was 40p. The advertiser’s refusal to comply with the upheld ASA adjudication led to their referral to the Office of Fair Trading. Another newspaper promotion, by The Sun, offering free computer games, generated 55 complaints and ranks in the top ten most complained about marketing communications of the year.

To subscribe to CAP’s free quarterly e-mail newsletter Update@CAP, visit the CAP website at www.cap.org.uk.