ASA Adjudication on Enterprise Department Ltd

Ad

A national press ad, for two cutlery sets, stated "VINERS 58-PIECE RAT TAIL STAINLESS STEEL CUTLERY exclusively for just £39.99 (RRP £149.99) plus p&p! … VINERS 58-PIECE STAINLESS STEEL BEAD CUTLERY exclusively for just £39.99 (RRP £149.99) plus p&p! …".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the RRPs were genuine and the price at which the cutlery sets were normally sold.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Enterprise Department (Enterprise) said the RRP was a guide price from the suppliers to all stockists of the cutlery and that they were at liberty to decide their own retail price.  They supplied a letter from the suppliers of the cutlery that confirmed the suggested RRP of £149.99 for both cutlery sets.  They said they adhered to all current laws and said it was common practice to quote the suppliers' RRP as a price with which to compare their selling price.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that the ad implied that, if they took up either of the advertised offers on the cutlery sets, customers would be making a saving against a general selling price of £149.99.  Although we acknowledged that Enterprise had provided a letter from the supplier confirming that the RRP was £149.99, we were concerned that they were unable to show that this was a price at which the items were generally sold, or anything other than a notional price at which the items were rarely, if ever, sold.  Because Enterprise had not shown that the ad highlighted genuine savings available to consumers, we concluded that it was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code 7.1 (Misleading advertising) and 15.5 (Prices).

Action

We told Enterprise not to refer to an RRP in future unless they could prove it did not differ significantly from the price at which the product was generally sold.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)