Ad description
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).
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 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation) and 3.9 3.9 Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify. (Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form.
