Ad description
A radio ad for Carpetways, broadcast on 26 May 2017, on CFM Radio, featured a voice-over that stated, “Some things are too good to be true but not the Carpetways’ bank holiday bonanza! …You won’t believe what I’m giving away this bank holiday weekend. I’m offering free fitting on all carpets over £99 with free underlay and free delivery! Sounds too good to be true but it’s not. The bank holiday bonanza at Carpetways. Visit carpetway.com to find your nearest branch or find us on Facebook”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that specific conditions applied to the offer which were not stated in the ad, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Radiocentre said that the ad was not cleared centrally and therefore CFM radio was responsible for a substantive response to the complaint.
CFM Radio said that the ad and similar offers had been running for 4 to 5 years with no issue. They said that the voice-over stated that consumers should visit the website, where terms and conditions for the offer were stated.
CFM Radio confirmed that the ad was not currently on air. They said that measures had been put in place to ensure future ads were cleared by Radiocentre.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that listeners would understand the claim “free fitting on all carpets over £99 with free underlay and free delivery” to mean that that the offer was valid on all carpets over £99, in the absence of any further qualification.
We understood that when the complainant visited the store, they were informed that terms and conditions applied to the offer, and specifically that it was only applicable to carpets that cost over £6.99 per square metre. We noted that, although the ad included a reference to the website, where CFM Radio said the terms and conditions could be found, the ad did not state that terms and conditions applied to the offer. We considered that the condition that the offer only applied to carpets costing over £6.99 per square metre constituted material information which was likely to affect a consumer’s decision as to whether or not to purchase a carpet. Because the ad did not make that condition clear, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached BCAP Code rule 3.1 and 3.2 (Misleading advertising)
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told Carpetways to ensure that future ads did not omit material information.
