ASA Adjudication on The Great British Mobility Group

Ad

Two press ads for adjustable furniture featured a number of "Buy one get one free" offers. a. One press ad was headlined “BUY ONE GET ONE FREE*!!” on the left side of the ad, with small asterisked text below stating “on all our premier ranges”. Further text below the headline provided more detail about the company, their logo and contact details. The right side of the ad showed four boxes with the different options on offer, with photos of each option; “Option 1… BUY ONE RISE & RECLINER CHAIR, GET ANOTHER MATCHING ONE FREE!!”, “Option 2 … BUY ONE RISE & RECLINER CHAIR, GET AN ADJUSTABLE BED FREE!!”, “Option 3 … BUY ONE RISE & RECLINER CHAIR, GET A MATCHING 2 SEATER SETTEE FREE!!”, “Option 4 … BUY ONE ADJUSTABLE BED, GET ANOTHER ADJUSTABLE BED FREE!!”. Further text said “CHOICE OF SIZES INCLUDING 18, 25, 35 AND 50 STONE MODELS AND CHAIRS AVAILABLE ANY WIDTH, ANY DEPTH, ANY SEAT HEIGHT” and featured a £100 off cut-off voucher for Daily Mail readers. b. A second press ad contained the same text, photos and example offers as ad (a) with a slightly different layout; the headline was on the right of the ad and the photos and example offers were on the left.

Issue

The complainant objected that the ads were misleading because she was told that, as she was not interested in getting two items, she could get one for half price.  She did not therefore believe that the "Buy one get one free" offer was genuine.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

The Great British Mobility Group (GBMG) stated that the "Buy one get one free" offer applied to their Premier range only, as stated in the ads.  They said they had been running the offer for three and a half years.  They explained that customers who found their items too expensive or who required one item only, could be offered items from the 'sell off' list; made up of ex-photography or demonstration items or cancelled orders.  They stated the 'sell off' list did not contain Premier range items and that the discount offered would not be as much as half price.  They explained that the ads did not include prices, because the items were built to order, to accommodate customer's requirements (size, chair functionality, motor type, colour) and that affected the final price.  They felt that the "Buy one get one free" offer was genuine, because the 'free' item was separate from and additional to the item that the customer was required to pay for.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA asked the GBMG to provide supporting documents showing the prices of items sold outside the 'buy one, get one free' offer, as well as documentary evidence showing the price of those items when offered as part of the 'buy one, get one free' sales promotion; however, they did not provide documentation showing those prices.  We noted that the GBMG stated they were unable to specify the price of an item before the selection and order process, because the price of an item would depend on a customer's requirements.  We considered, however, that the GBMG would need to show the price of an item when it was not subject to the 'buy one, get one free' offer, i.e., at its original price, for the benefit of any customers who wished to take advantage of the sales promotion, in order for those customers to compare the prices of items sold outside of the promotion, and the prices of these same items when sold as part of the 'buy one, get one free' promotion.  Because the GBMG were unable to provide that documentation, we considered it was not possible for customers to compare the original price with the promotional price and to ensure that the price quoted for the item sold as part of the 'buy one, get one free' promotion had not been sold at inflated prices to cover the costs of the promotional offer.

Because the advertisers had not provided evidence showing the prices of items sold outside of the 'Buy one, get one free' offer and then as part of the offer, and because this meant consumers would not be able to compare the price of an individual item sold outside of the promotion, with an item which was part of the promotion, we concluded that the ads were misleading and that the "Buy one get one free" offer was not genuine.

The ads breached under CAP Code clauses 7.1, 7.2 (Truthfulness), 27.4 (Introduction to Sales Promotions Rules) and 32.2 (Free offers and free trials).

Action

The ads must not appear again in their current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)