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ASA Adjudication on IPC Media Ltd

IPC Media Ltd t/a Woman and Home

Blue Fin Building
110 Southwark Street
London
SE1 0SU

Date:

25 January 2012

Media:

Insert

Sector:

Publishing

Number of complaints:

1

Complaint Ref:

A11-174851

Ad

A magazine insert, for a subscription promotion, was viewed in October 2011.  It was headlined "Fabulous subscription offer for 12 issues for just £23.99".  Text below stated "Plus a free gift from Liz Earle ... FREE GIFT WORTH £28.55".  Further text stated "... This month, you can subscribe to w&h and pay just £23.99 for 12 issues, and enjoy a free gift from Liz Earle worth £28.55!* ... But hurry - this offer lasts until 30 September 2011, so please call XXX and quote 17J to claim your discount".  Small print stated "... *Gifts are only available to the first 600 subscribers and on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to availability while stocks last ...".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied all applicants would receive the free gift.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

Response

Woman and Home said the terms and conditions clearly stated that gifts were available to only the first 600 subscribers, on a first come, first served basis while stocks lasted.  They said their subscription fulfilment system automatically alerted them when 85% of the limited stock had been used up and the promotion was then effectively deactivated and they should always have enough stock to fulfil any orders already in their system.  They said any potential subscribers could then be informed that the gift was not available before they confirmed their order and could then choose not to subscribe or to take advantage of a different subscription offer.  They said they might not always get that right but they did always contact customers after they had placed an order to confirm the details and they provided a refund if the consumer was not happy.  They said the expected response rate was exceeded for the promotion. However, they took care to ensure responses were estimated based on previous promotions and they obtained gifts in good faith to match that estimated response.  They did not believe the ad was misleading or otherwise in breach of the Code.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered the overall impression of the ad, in particular the text "Fabulous subscription offer for 12 issues for just £23.99.  Plus a free gift from Liz Earle ... FREE GIFT WORTH £28.55" and "... This month, you can subscribe to w&h and pay just £23.99 for 12 issues, and enjoy a free gift from Liz Earle worth £28.55!*", was that the free gift was available to all new subscribers.  We noted small print stated "... *Gifts are only available to the first 600 subscribers and on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to availability while stocks last ..." but considered that contradicted, rather than clarified, the overall impression of the ad and was therefore not sufficient to make clear that the free gift was not available to all new subscribers.  We concluded that the ad breached the Code.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.  We told Woman and Home to ensure material information was presented clearly in future.

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