Lessons from the Big Brother promotion: advertisers urged to make their promotions crystal clear

13 November 2006

The Big Brother house hit the headlines again in October, but this time it had nothing to do with the weird and wonderful antics of the housemates. It was because the ASA published yet another upheld complaint adjudication against confectionery brand Nestle and Channel 4, which ran a "Golden Ticket" promotion giving viewers the chance to be a housemate.

Posters, national press ads and point of sale material promoted the fact that certain Kit Kat chocolate bars contained these Golden Tickets, but a complainant challenged whether the terms and conditions and the nature and number of the prizes were both made clear in the promotional advertising material.

The ASA disagreed with the complainant's belief that the promotion was misleading on the grounds that it made consumers believe that a Golden Ticket automatically guaranteed a place in the house. However, we did agree with the complainant that not all the key promotion details were available on all marketing; for example, the fact that participants had to be over 18 years of age was not made explicit on poster advertising. As a result, the ASA told the promoters to ensure that future campaigns included every significant condition of entry to avoid disappointing consumers.

There are many legal conditions governing the running of promotions such as prize draws, competitions and instant-wins. Nevertheless, there is still much scope for confusion as promoters are increasingly devising bigger and more creative campaigns to grab consumers' attention. If you feel that a promotion breaks the CAP Code, you should contact the ASA. Among the requirements stated in the CAP Code are that sales promotions should:

• Be clear, readily understandable, unambiguous, accurate and not mislead or omit vital information
• Not state or imply that a consumer has won a prize when this is not the case or overstate the chance of winning
• Misrepresent the value, nature of availability of prizes
• State all the key requirements for entry on all marketing communications, such as the closing date
• Outline clearly how consumers can take the "free entry" route, without purchasing an advertiser's product or making any kind of contribution

For more guidance see CAP's help note on promotions.