ASA Adjudication on DSG Retail Ltd

Ad

The voice-over on a TV ad for Currys stated “At Currys this Christmas we’ll give you a £10 gift card absolutely free when you buy any games console, digital camera, iPod, Sat Nav or camcorder …”. The ad showed rows of each product type featured in the list while text in a pink circle read “Free £10 Gift card”. On-screen text stated “Excludes iPod shuffle”. The ad closed with the Currys logo and the website address “currys.co.uk/Christmas”.

Issue

Two viewers, who purchased goods on the Currys website to take advantage of the Gift card offer and subsequently found that on-line purchases did not qualify for it, challenged whether the ad misleadingly omitted a significant condition.

BCAP TV Code

Response

DSG explained that the terms and conditions of the gift card promotion were stated at the website address referred to in the ad, www.currys.co.uk/christmas, and were also accessible from a link on the Curry's online homepage.  They pointed out that those website pages made clear that the gift card promotion applied to store purchases only.  They explained that details of the promotion were featured online, because the website was used a great deal by customers who wished to research store purchases or take advantage of the Curry's Reserve and Collect service.  They believed, therefore, the ad was not misleading.

Clearcast approved the ad for broadcast, but explained that they were not aware that on-line purchases were exempt from the offer.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the terms and conditions of the gift card promotion, which clarified that it applied only to purchases made either through the Reserve and Collect service or in-store, were stated at the website address given in the ad.  We also noted, however, the website address directed viewers to Curry's online Christmas shop where on-line purchases could be made and considered that viewers were likely to infer from the ad that the promotion applied to purchases made at that web address.  

Although the on-line terms and conditions made the basis of the offer clear, we considered that the ad itself should have made clear that on-line purchases were excluded from the offer, to avoid disappointment to those customers who were drawn to the Curry's website as a result of seeing the ad only to find purchases made there did not qualify.  We concluded that a significant condition had been omitted and the ad could mislead.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1, 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.3 (Qualifications).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)