Ad description
A teleshopping ad for a Canon IXUS 500 camera with 16 GB SD card was broadcast on Bid TV. On-screen text stated "now at £200.00" and then "now at £125.00". The first presenter stated, "Over to Nicola though, [for] which this is the lowest price ever for a camera. Brilliant." The second presenter stated, "It certainly is, Sal, and we're talking Canon. We're talking one of the best names ... What I'm going to do for you here is the lowest price you've ever seen ... it's the lowest price ever ... so, lowest price ever, four easy instalments ..."
Issue
A complainant challenged whether the claims that the item was being sold for the lowest price ever were misleading and could be substantiated, because he understood that Bid TV had previously sold it for less.
Response
Bid TV said £125 was the lowest price the camera had been sold for on Bid TV. They said it had previously been offered for £1 during a "megadrop" feature on Price Drop TV in January 2013, but that the two channels, although both part of sit-up, were separate, independent channels with their own branding, teams, programme schedules, pricing, stock allocation, identity and websites. They said the channels were viewed internally as separate. There was no cross-promotion between them and that, when a presenter referred to something happening on "their" channel, they were referring to the channel on which they were appearing rather than other channels or activities related to sit-up.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the presenter's references to price - "... this is the lowest price ever for a camera ... the lowest price you've ever seen ... it's the lowest price ever ..." - did not explain that the price was the lowest for which the camera had been sold on Bid TV and could be taken to mean the lowest price anywhere, including other channels. Because Bid TV had not demonstrated that that was the case, we concluded that the claims were misleading and in breach of the BCAP Code.
The claims breached BCAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.2
3.2
Advertisements must not mislead consumers by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.9
3.9
Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is 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),
3.12
3.12
Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service.
(Exaggeration) and
3.18
3.18
Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product or service depicted in the advertisement.
(Prices).
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.
