ASA Adjudication on ASDA Stores Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for Asda stated "Meet DJ. He's worked out that when he switches our lights off, that helps lower the price of your morning cuppa. And Alison here knows that when we sell on our recyclable cardboard and plastic well, that means the price of your fruit and veg goes down”. The ad showed the “ROLL BACK” label over jars of coffee on a shelf and an aisle of vegetables. The voice-over continued “It's lots of little savings like these that means that we can cut the prices of thousands of products in our big New Year rollback. So when Catherine does this, [the employee identified as Catherine stood on a podium and pressed a big, red button labelled "THE BIG ROLLBACK"] the price of your shopping goes down, which means 1,000 products cheaper than they were last week”. The ad showed the “ROLL BACK” label quickly popping up on shelves of crisps and bottles of soft drinks. The voice-over continued “That's 4,000 rollbacks by the end of the month. The big rollback. Just another example of how all of us at Asda are saving you money every day". The ad ended with a group of ASDA staff holding a banner which stated “4000 ROLLBACKS”.

Issue

Two viewers challenged whether the ad was misleading, because they interpreted the term "rollback" to mean long-term reductions, whereas they understood that it referred to short-term discounts, some of which lasted only a week.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Asda said, as with other retailers, their price reductions were presented in various ways and rollbacks were just one way that price cuts at any given time were relayed.  They said the ad's claims were factually correct: the prices of thousands of products were cut in the 'Big New Year Rollback', 1,000 products were cheaper than the previous week and 4,000 prices would be rolled back by the end of the month.  They said the ad did not state or imply that rollbacks were long-term.  Asda maintained that, as with any products subject to a price reduction campaign, the length of time products remained at their discounted rate was a matter for the advertiser to decide.  They said prices could fluctuate for a number of reasons, although price reductions were a continuous feature within their business.

Asda explained that 'The Big Rollback' was one of the largest price reduction events that Asda had ever run and they believed, in conjunction with the claim "that's 4,000 rollbacks by the end of the month", the presentation-style opening of 'The Big Rollback' gave a clear message to viewers about the size and scale of the event being launched.  They said they used the term 'Big' in this context specifically to indicate the scale of the event and the number of products involved, but not to indicate the longevity of any price reduction.  Regardless, Asda submitted evidence to the ASA, which detailed the 4,228 products reduced in 'The Big Rollback' and which demonstrated that all of the products included were reduced for a period of between eight and eleven weeks: none were reduced for as short a term as the complainants had understood.  

They said their in-store cost savings portrayed in the ad, such as savings on electricity, were long-term strategies and Asda wanted to convey to their customers that they were passing on their cost savings in the form of a large number of price reductions.  

Clearcast said they were concerned to hear that viewers felt they had been misled by the ad.  They explained that the term "rollback" had been used by Asda for many years to describe its price reductions and the current ad was merely the latest in a long line of ads, which conveyed that message.  They explained that the premise behind this ad was that, through its commitment to drive down costs across its operation, Asda was able to cut the price of many products, which it referred to as 'rollbacks' as an easily recognisable term.

Clearcast explained that, in their view, the ad clarified that the items included in the rollback would change over a period because it stated "... which means that 1,000 products are cheaper than they were last week, that's 4,000 rollbacks by the end of the month": the message relayed was that there were price cuts on 1,000 products this week and next week there would be price cuts on a different 1,000 products.  The rollbacks were, therefore, special offers and non-permanent.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA considered that the main message of the ad was to convey to consumers that Asda were able to pass on savings to their customers on account of changes they had made to their own behaviour.  Because of those changes, Asda were able to offer general savings to consumers in 'The Big Rollback', which was demonstrated in the ad in the style of a grand opening.  We considered that consumers were likely to infer from the ad as a whole, that the prices being reduced in 'The Big Rollback' gave cause for celebration, and would therefore expect prices to be reduced for longer than one week and, furthermore, that the number of 'rollback' offers was accumulative: 1,000 per week, 4,000 by the end of the month.

We understood that the products the complainants had been interested in were part of different promotions and were not included in 'The Big Rollback'. We also understood that all of the products included in 'The Big Rollback' were reduced for at least eight weeks and that, by the end of the month, 4,000 products were available at their 'rollback' price.

We concluded that, in consideration of the number of products reduced in 'The Big Rollback' promotion and the fact that they had been reduced for at least eight weeks, the ad was unlikely to mislead.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 5.1.1 (Misleading advertising) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)