ASA Adjudication on Fitness First plc

Ad

A national press ad, for gym membership, was headed "JOIN THE WORLD'S LARGEST FROM ONLY £19.95 per month". Small print stated "Membership valid from 4pm Friday to close of club on Sunday ... Administration fee applies".

Issue

1. The complainant objected that the ad was misleading, because the headline price applied to weekend membership only.

2. The ASA challenged whether the ad was misleading, because the requirement to pay an administration fee was stated in the small print only.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Fitness First said they had been working closely with their local Trading Standards department to address any issues with their advertising. They said their competitors did not include information about the type of membership and the requirement to pay an administration fee in the body copy of their ads and they had therefore only included that information in the small print.

Assessment

1. & 2. Upheld

The ASA considered that the limitation that £19.95 covered weekend membership only was a significant condition of the promotion, which was likely to affect a consumer's decision to take up the offer. We noted that the administration fee was a compulsory one-off payment and we considered that it was also a significant condition. We therefore concluded that, because those conditions were not stated prominently, the ad was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness), 15.1 (Prices), 27.4 (Sales promotion rules) and 34.1 (Significant conditions for promotions).

Action

We told Fitness First to include all significant conditions of their promotions, including any restrictions to membership and the requirement to pay an administration fee, in the body copy of their ads. We advised them to seek guidance from the CAP Copy Advice team for their future ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)