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ASA Adjudication on kgb (UK) Ltd

kgb (UK) Ltd

Sterling House
Malthouse Avenue
Cardiff Gate Business Centre
Cardiff
CF23 8RA

Date:

13 June 2012

Media:

Internet (sales promotion), E-mail

Sector:

Leisure

Number of complaints:

1

Complaint Ref:

A12-192409

Ad

An offer on the deals website  www.kgbdeals.co.uk, stated "£15 for a £50 beauty voucher to spend on any treatment at Tara Studio Nails and Beauty - save 70%".  A list headed "our pick of the treatments" included "Shellac fingernails (£20)". Conditions underneath stated "This kgbdeal does not include acrylic or gel nails".

Issue

The complainant, who had purchased the deal, challenged whether the ad was misleading, because she was told by the salon that Shellac fingernails were excluded.

Investigated under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.9 (Qualification).

CAP Code (Edition 12)

Response

kgb (UK) Ltd (kgb) said they had made repeated attempts to contact their merchant but had been unsuccessful.  They said  based on their internal documentation and conversations with the salesperson who sourced the deal, they believed that Shellac fingernails had been included in the deal and that the only nail treatments excluded were acrylic and gel nails, as stated in the ad copy.  They suggested that the Shellac product may have been out of stock when the complainant tried to redeem the deal, but they also advised they did not have any evidence that that had been the case.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that kgb believed Shellac nails were included in the deal and that they thought it was possible the product may have been out of stock when the complainant tried to redeem the voucher.  However, because we had not seen any evidence that that was the case, we concluded that they had not been able to demonstrate that Shellac fingernails were included and therefore the ad breached the Code.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.9 (Qualification).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

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