Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
The points below apply to all promoters, especially those who use direct marketing.
Promoters should avoid unnecessarily complex, confusing or legalistic language.
Promoters should ensure that the page design, layout or format of the promotion is not misleading. Promoters should not embolden or otherwise emphasise claims to create an overall impression that is not true.
Promoters should ensure that the source, origin and character of promotions with prizes is clear. Promotions sent by direct mail should not mislead about content of envelopes, for example, by stating or implying that they come from an official source or contain private information if they do not. In isolation, claims such as “private and confidential” and “official notice” are likely to mislead by exaggerating the importance of prize draw mailings.
Promoters should take care when making claims that are visible through the windows of envelopes not to lead recipients into thinking something that is not true.
Promoters should ensure that fake cheques, or similar, used to give consumers an indication of what they could win are not presented as real. Printing “sample” diagonally across such cheques is likely to ensure that consumers are not misled.
Promoters should not misrepresent the areas in which promotions with prizes are being promoted; they should not imply, for example, that the winner will come from the UK if that might not be true. Promoters should state if the promotion is advertised in different formats if consumers might otherwise be misled about, for example, the number of individual prize pools or the likely number of entrants.
Unless it is obvious from the context or if entry into an advertised promotion is only through a dedicated website containing that information in an easily found format, the promoter's full name and correspondence address must be stated if the omission of this information is likely to mislead.
Newspapers and magazines need not state their name and address in promotional copy for their own promotions if that information can easily be found elsewhere in the publication.