Ad description
A promotion on the website www.confused.com, visited via a link in an e-mail sent to the complainant, stated "Exclusive Santander offer Buy car insurance from Santander and get your car insurance for £20.12". A button below the text read "Get a Quote" and statements below the button included "Offer pays out a maximum of £1,500 off your premium" and "Terms & conditions apply*". The terms and conditions appeared further down the web page.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the promotion was misleading, because the offer was for entry into a prize draw to win a year's car insurance for £20.12, not an offer to buy car insurance for that price.
Response
Confused.com outlined the path a consumer would have taken in relation to the offer, which was only marketed via e-mail, and they explained that, wherever the claim "get your car insurance for £20.12" appeared throughout the promotion, the conditions were always proximate to it. They said the first line of the terms and conditions explained the promotion was a prize draw and that that was also stated in the body of the e-mail. They believed all of the necessary information was provided pre-purchase.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA understood that all consumers would have seen the e-mail, which said "T&Cs apply" next to the headline claim and which referred to a "daily draw" in the body copy. We noted that the landing page stated next to the "Get a quote" and "Retrieve a quote" buttons that terms and conditions applied and that those conditions, which began "This prize draw ('Every Day Draw') is subject to the following terms and conditions ..." were provided in full further down the page. We understood that a consumer who had applied for a quote would see a list of prices from different insurers and that those from participating insurers appeared with the statement "Celebrate 2012 with Car Insurance for £20.12. T&Cs apply [active link]". Before clicking to buy a policy, consumers would see the message "Exclusive offer, buy this policy and be entered into a draw to win your Car Insurance for £20.12, winning up to a maximum of £1500 off your premium. Please see the Terms & Conditions at this address ...".
Although we considered that the claim "Buy car insurance from Santander and get your car insurance for £20.12" on the website landing page did not make the nature of the offer explicitly clear, we noted that material information was provided at each stage of the process that explained the promotion was a prize draw, which could be entered if a consumer bought a policy from one of the participating insurers. Because of that, we considered that consumers were unlikely to be misled regarding the nature of the offer and we concluded that the promoters had dealt fairly with them.
We investigated the promotion under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer 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 the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
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),
8.2
8.2
Promoters must conduct their promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly and honourably with participants and potential participants. Promoters must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment.
(Sales promotions) and
8.17.1
8.17.1
How to participate
How to participate, including significant conditions and costs, and other major factors reasonably likely to influence consumers' decision or understanding about the promotion
(Significant Conditions for Promotions), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
