ASA Adjudication on Associated Newspapers Ltd

Ad

A reader offer, in the Daily Mail, stated "To introduce readers to the inimitable Noli style, the Daily Mail has come up with a great offer: collect ten of our tokens and you can get a Noli bracelet, which usually sells for £99, for just £4.99 to cover p&p ... Alternatively you can buy the bracelets for just £20 each and you will not need to collect tokens".

Issue

The complainant, who ordered the bracelet but believed it was of little monetary value, challenged whether:

1. the claim the bracelet normally sold for £99 could be substantiated, and

2. £4.99 was the true cost of postage and packing.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Associated Newspapers Ltd (Associated Newspapers) t/a the Daily Mail said that the bracelet was a highly desirable fashion item, hand strung and made from semi-precious stones including amethyst, rose quartz, peridot and jonqil. They said it was sold at Noli London for £99 and was still available to Noli stockists with a Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of £99. They sent a letter from Noli to confirm that. They said the words "usually sells for £99" in the ad were simply a more consumer-friendly way of saying "RRP £99". They said that, as far as they were aware, the Noli bracelet had always sold for at least £99.

2. The Daily Mail said the £4.99 cost was to cover the postage and packing of the item. They said this included all the costs of the associated dispatch including sorting, data-basing, packaging, cheque cashing, postage, customer service and reporting. They said the offer was more complex than a straightforward single item "pick and pack" because readers were able to choose their preferred colour of bracelet if purchasing more than one item. They also said that the offer was open to all their readers, including those based overseas but the £4.99 payment covered every fulfilment worldwide, including requests for a bracelet from Spain, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, etc. They said that, in a number of cases, they suffered a loss for this reason.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA acknowledged the letter from Noli which stated that their boutique in London sold the bracelets for £99 and that they were also available to Noli stockists with a Recommended Retail Price of £99. We noted Noli products were stocked by a number of retailers throughout the UK and that the ad stated "To see the Noli range and find your nearest stockist visit www.noli.com". We noted the Daily Mail was a national newspaper and considered that, because we had not seen evidence to show that the Noli bracelet "usually sells for £99", at a range of stockists throughout the UK, the advertisers had not substantiated the claim.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 15.5 (Prices).

2. Upheld

We noted the Daily Mail's explanation for the £4.99 charge and understood that it included administrative as well as postage and packing costs. We considered, however, that readers would understand from the claim "for just £4.99 to cover p&p" that the amount was the charge for the cost of postage and packing only. We noted we had not seen evidence to show that the true cost of postage and packing would be £4.99 and concluded the claim "for just £4.99 to cover p&p" was likely to mislead on those grounds.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)