Ad description
Two sales promotions posted on the Social Discount Network Facebook page.
a. The first post stated "LIKE & SHARE & WIN £250.00 to spend on WWW.LOTD.CO.UK!!!"
b. The second post stated "WIN £100 To Spend On Our Site!!!!!! SHARE and LIKE this post to WIN!!!!"
Issue
The complainant, who understood that the winners of the promotions had not entered the competitions according to the stated entry requirements, challenged whether the promotions were fairly administered.
Response
The Social Discount Network did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned with The Social Discount Network's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and we told them to do so in future.
The instructions for the competitions instructed entrants to 'like' and 'share' the posts in question in order to enter the promotion, and all entrants would therefore need to be registered on Facebook to participate. We understood that the existence of a Facebook profile under a specific name was publicly accessible information and that all entrants' profiles would therefore be visible when searched for. The complainant believed that the winners of the two promotions (whose names were announced by the advertiser on Facebook) did not have Facebook profiles and therefore could not have entered the competition according to the terms stated in the posts, which we understood to be the case. In the absence of evidence to demonstrate that the winners had entered according to the stated terms and conditions, we concluded that the promotions had not been administered fairly.
The promotion breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 8.1 8.1 Promoters are responsible for all aspects and all stages of their promotions. and 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).
Action
We told The Social Discount Network to ensure that future promotions were administered fairly. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
