Ad description

A press ad for a mail order watch stated “LIMITED EDITION CHRONOGRAPH WATCH … Only 4,999 of these handcrafted watches have been produced”. Small print at the bottom of the ad stated “Production dependant on reservations received”.

Issue

The complainant, who understood production of the watch depended on the number of orders received, challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied the product was in stock and had limited availability.

Response

The Bradford Exchange Ltd said they had tried to make it clear that the production of the watch was limited to the number of orders they received in their advertising and provided examples of recent ads to demonstrate that. They explained the ad had appeared in error. They asked to resolve the matter on an informal basis and said they would check their advertising more thoroughly in the future.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered consumers would interpret the claim “LIMITED EDITION CHRONOGRAPH WATCH … Only 4,999 of these handcrafted watches have been produced” to mean that the watch was a limited edition and there were only 4,999 available for consumers to buy. However, we understood that the production of the watch was dependant on the number of orders received. While we acknowledged small print at the bottom of the ad stated “Production dependant on the reservations received”, we considered that the qualification contradicted rather than clarified the overall impression consumers would get from the ad. We noted CAP Code rule  3.31 3.31 Marketing communications must not falsely claim that the marketer is about to cease trading or move premises. They must not falsely state that a product, or the terms on which it is offered, will be available only for a very limited time to deprive consumers of the time or opportunity to make an informed choice.  stated “Marketing communications … must not falsely state that a product, or the terms on which it is offered, will be available only for a limited time to deprive consumers of the time or opportunity to make an informed choice”. We considered that the ad was likely to give the consumer an undue sense of urgency about the availability of the product and, therefore, might have an impact on their transactional decision. Because we considered consumers would understand that there were only 4,999 watches available, which was not the case, we concluded the ad 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.  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),  3.7 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),  3.9 3.9 Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.  (Qualification) and  3.31 3.31 Marketing communications must not falsely claim that the marketer is about to cease trading or move premises. They must not falsely state that a product, or the terms on which it is offered, will be available only for a very limited time to deprive consumers of the time or opportunity to make an informed choice.  (Availability).

Action

The ad must not appear in its current form. We told The Bradford Exchange Ltd to ensure that future marketing communications did not misleadingly imply or state that the availability of a product was limited.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.3     3.31     3.7     3.9    


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