ASA Adjudication on Last Minute Network Ltd

Ad

A banner ad for an online sales promotion, in conjunction with Silverjet airlines, appeared on lastminute.com. The ad stated "Book now and get a £100 evoucher. Offer ends June 24th". The body of the text stated "Book now and we'll send you a cool £100 e-voucher to buy more lovely things with, on lastminute.com*".

The terms and conditions stated "...2. This offer is available to the first 50 customers who make a flight booking with Silverjet, online at www.lastminute.com between 4th and 18th June 2007...4. The £100 e-voucher can only be awarded once a full flight booking has been made on Silverjet at www.lastminute.com..."

Issue

1. The complainant questioned the closing date for the promotion because, the terms and conditions stated that the offer was available to purchases made between 4th and 18th June but the banner ad alongside the text stated that the offer closed on 24th June.

2. The ASA questioned the availability of the promotional vouchers to the first 50 respondents.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. lastminute.com acknowledged that the complainant had made a valid point and there was a discrepancy between the closing date stated in the ad and the closing date stated in the terms and conditions. They apologised for their error and said that all entries made before 24th June were honoured. They said they would introduce a series of checks in future competitions to ensure a similar inaccuracy did not happen again.

2. lastminute.com said that one full flight booking only was made during the promotion period, therefore only one participant took advantage of the promotion. The booking was made on the 24th June and they provided documentation that showed the reference number, details of the entry, and a copy of the evoucher request form.

lastminute.com explained that they were able to access lists of online bookings in date and time order from an internal system called LFE Control Centre. They said bookings were monitored daily and the promotion would have been removed after 50 bookings had been made. They confirmed that there was one booking only for a Silverjet flight during the competition period and that booking received a £100 evoucher.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted that lastminute.com had acknowledged the discrepancy with the closing dates of the competition. We accepted their assertion that all entries received up until the closing date of the 24th June were honoured. However, we concluded that the closing date in the ad was not the same as the closing date in the terms and conditions and that inaccuracy was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 34.1c (Significant conditions for promotions).

2. Not upheld

The ASA acknowledged that one valid entry only was made before the 24th June and there was only one entrant. We acknowledged that the entrant had received a £100 evoucher from lastminute.com. We noted that lastminute.com had systems in place to monitor when bookings were made and that the promotion would have been withdrawn had 50 entries been received. We concluded that the £100 evouchers were readily available to the first 50 entrants in the promotion.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 16.1 (Availability of products), and  30.3 (Availability) but did not find it in breach.

Action

We advised lastminute.com to seek advice from the CAP Copy advice team when devising similar promotions.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)