Ad description

A website for Argos Ltd, www.argos.co.uk, seen on 20 November 2015, promoted "Andrew Barton Salon Sleek Argan Infused Hair Straightener". Text stated "Was £64.99 £32.49* HALF PRICE". The asterisk linked to text that stated "Please note item 2139254 has previously been on sale at 25.99".

Issue

The complainant, who understood that the straighteners had previously been available for less than £32.49, challenged whether the savings claim was misleading and could be substantiated.

Response

Argos Ltd provided sales data relating to the product which showed the prices the product had been available for, the number of days it was available at each of those price points, and the number of units sold, from the end of April to the end of November 2015. The data showed that the product had been available at four prices over the period (£64.99, £32.49, £29.24 and £25.49), but Argos explained that the two lowest prices were “spike deals”, which were permitted within the BIS Pricing Practices Guide (PPG), and lasted for a very brief period. They said the data showed that they had charged the higher price of £64.99 for longer than they had charged any promotional price and longer than all the promotional prices put together. Further, of all the units sold in the relevant period, 25% had been sold at the higher price and therefore Argos believed that this share represented a “significant quantity” of those sold, and justified the savings claim.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the comments from Argos about the ad's compliance with the PPG. However, while we took that into account, we assessed whether it breached the CAP Code.

We considered consumers were likely to understand the claim “Was £64.99 £32.49 HALF PRICE” to represent a genuine saving against the usual selling price of the product at the time the ad appeared. While we noted that the price of £32.49 was asterisked and linked to smaller text which made clear that the product has been available for less than both the “was” and discounted prices, we considered that consumers would believe that the figure of £25.99 represented a temporary and special discount, but that the item was usually sold by Argos at £64.99.

We understood that from April to November 2015 the product had been available at four different price points. We acknowledged that the product had been available for the highest price of £64.99 for the greatest number of days during the relevant period and that approximately 25% of all the sales had been at that price. However, we also noted that the highest volume of sales, over double those achieved at £64.99, had been at £32.49. Further, the product had last been available at £64.99 at the end of September. It had subsequently fluctuated in price during the intervening period (for approximately six weeks) and had been offered at £32.49, £29.24 and £25.49 during that time. In addition, from April to the end of September, the product had not been consistently available for £64.99, but had been on sale for £32.49 for two periods. In light of those factors, we considered that at the point the complainant viewed the ad, the “was” price was not a genuine representation of the price at which the product was usually sold, and that the implied savings claim was misleading.

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  3.17 3.17 Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product featured in the marketing communication.  (Prices).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Argos Ltd to ensure their future savings claims did not mislead about the benefit available.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.17     3.7    


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