ASA Non-broadcast Adjudication: Associated Newspapers Ltd

Complaint

A DVD promotion, ran by the Daily Mail newspaper, was advertised in the newspaper and on television.

a. A front-page flash on the cover of the newspaper stated "FREE DVD MOVIE INSIDE" and showed a picture of a "A Handful of Dust" DVD. Above the headline appeared the text "WORTH £15.99".

b. A TV advertisement for the same promotion showed the DVD followed by a series of clips from the film. While these images appeared on-screen the voiceover said "Free inside your Daily Mail tomorrow, a £15.99 DVD of the glorious movie 'A Handful of Dust' Worth £15.99 it's absolutely free inside tomorrow's Daily Mail."

A complainant objected to the claim that the DVD was "worth £15.99" because the DVD offered by the advertiser did not include the same material as the DVD that was available in shops, such as commentaries, trailers and biographies. He said the DVD offered by the advertiser only included the film.

CAP Code

Adjudication

Complaint upheld

Associated newspapers said the DVD was available in shops for £15.99 and that consumers who had bought the DVD at that price had bought it for the film rather than any additional material it contained. It argued that the value of a DVD was entirely in the film and not in additional material it contained. It compared the situation to going to the cinema, where a customer was paying to see a film and not the trailers that preceded it. It argued that the additional material in the shop-bought DVD represented free promotional material being given away by film companies and was not what customers actually paid for and that additional material that came with DVDs was often referred to as "bonus material" by the industry, which implied they were seen as extras beyond the product actually being purchased (i.e. the film).

The advertising agency, commenting only on the TV advertisement, added that the additional material on the DVD was incidental, could not be purchased separately and had no monetary value in itself. It said the value of the DVD related only to the film and it was not misleading to say that the DVD offered by the advertiser was worth £15.99. It said that 3.3 million people had purchased the Daily Mail and received "A Handful of Dust". It said it had received no complaints but complimentary calls from satisfied readers.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC), also commenting solely on the TV advertisement, said the advertisement had promised a free DVD which was true. It confirmed that the DVD was being sold for £15.99. It disagreed that the advertisement was misleading and said the fact the shop-bought DVD had extra features was irrelevant.

We accepted that the film "A Handful of Dust" could be purchased on DVD from certain retail outlets at a cost of £15.99 and that it included bonus material that people now expect on DVDs. We noted, however, that the DVD offered by the advertiser, available exclusively as part of its own promotion and featuring only the film, could not be purchased in that form in shops. Because the DVD offered by the Daily Mail had never been sold, and was solely available via its own promotion, we considered that it was misleading to attach a cash value to it. We concluded that the claim that the DVD was worth £15.99 was misleading, regardless of whether it contained the extras offered by a shop-bought DVD.

The front-page flash appearing in the Daily Mail was in breach of CAP Code Clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness), 15.1 (Prices) and 15.5 (Prices - used as a basis of comparison).

The TV advertisement was in breach of CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code Rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.3.1 (Accurate pricing).