ASA Adjudication on Express Newspapers

Ad

A front-page flash on the Daily Express said "FREE FIREWORKS FOR EVERY READER AT Sainsbury's". Separate text said "WORTH £29.99". Small text printed vertically said "WHEN YOU SPEND £15 AT PARTICIPATING SAINSBURY'S STORES SEE PAGE 31". On page 31 the promotion was headed "FREE* FIREWORKS AT SAINSBURYS". This linked to further text in the body of the promotion which said " * when they spend £14.99 or more on Fireworks". The terms and conditions section said "Licensed participating stores only".

Issue

1. One reader challenged whether the term "EVERY READER" was misleading because Sainsbury's branches in Northern Ireland were not participating.

2. A second reader challenged whether the ad was misleading because it did not make clear that the £15 had to be spent on fireworks.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Express Newspapers said they had made clear on the front page that the offer was limited to participating stores. Sainsbury's clarified that their stores in Northern Ireland did not participate due to licensing conditions regarding the sale of fireworks. They believed the claim "every reader" was not misleading as every reader was still free to use the voucher at a participating store.

2. Express Newspapers said the conditional spend of £15 was made clear on the front page. Sainsbury's said that they had no control over how terms and conditions were displayed on the front-page flash. They said that they did have control over page 31 which made clear that a conditional spend of £14.99 on fireworks was required.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA believed that readers were likely to interpret the claim "... EVERY READER ..." in conjunction with the disclaimer " ... AT PARTICIPATING SAINSBURYS STORES" to mean that, while some stores were not participating, enough would be taking part for most readers to be able to take advantage of the offer.

We understood the Daily Express was on sale in Northern Ireland where no Sainsburys stores were participating. Because it was the case that no readers in Northern Ireland would reasonably have an opportunity to take advantage of the offer we concluded that the term "... EVERY READER ... " was misleading.

2. Upheld

The ASA noted that the offer required £14.99 to be spent on fireworks at Sainsburys in order for readers to receive a further £29.99 worth of fireworks. We considered this was a significant condition likely to influence consumers in their decision to purchase the paper and take up the offer, and should have been stated in the front-page flash itself. We noted that the front-page flash stated "WHEN YOU SPEND £15 AT PARTICIPATING SAINSBURY'S STORES SEE PAGE 31" but did not make clear that this had to be spent on fireworks. We therefore considered that readers would infer the £14.99 could be spent on any products. Because this was not the case we concluded the front-page flash was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code Clauses 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness), 27.4 (Sales Promotion), 34.1a and 34.1f (Significant conditions for promotions) and 36.1 (Front page flashes)

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)