Ad description
A prize promotion on packaging for Mookie Toys stated "WIN! HAVE YOU BOUGHT OUR 10,000,00TH SWINGBALL? DO YOU HAVE THE WINNING GOLDEN TICKET?". Text underneath stated "Win a Family Holiday £500 retail voucher LUXURY BBQ AND MANY OTHER GREAT PRIZES!". Inside the packaging was a golden ticket which stated "CONGRATULATIONS!!! ARE YOU OUR 10,000,000TH SWINGBALL WINNER? HAVE YOU INSTANTLY WON THE £500 RETAIL VOUCHER?". The ticket included a code number and further text stated "PLEASE ENTER YOUR DETAILS AND CODE ONLINE".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the sales promotion was misleading and likely to cause disappointment because they believed the promotion implied that the Golden Tickets were winning tickets.
Response
Mookie Toys Ltd (Mookie) said 160,000 golden tickets were included within the Swingball Pro, All Surface, Classic Swingball & Swingball Turbo packs and that 1, 018 successful prize codes were generated. They said each golden ticket also entitled the holder to enter a prize draw, taking place in December 2012, to win a Yurts Family holiday for three or four nights for four people, or a luxury barbecue. They explained that participants needed to enter the code printed on their golden ticket into the Swingball facebook page to find out if they were a winner and those terms and conditions were on the Facebook page.They stated that the box itself contained the text "Do you have the winning golden ticket" which alerted the customer to the possibility that they could be a winner. They argued that if there was a possibility that the customer would be successful then there must equally be a possibility that the customer could be unsuccessful. They said that upon opening the box, consumers would have seen a golden ticket which stated "Are you are 10,000,000th Swingball winner? Have you instantly won the £500 retail voucher?". They said that again these questions alerted the customer to the possibility that they could be a winner, but that equally, they may not be. They therefore believed the promotion made clear that it was only a possibility that a customer would win and that it would not cause disappointment.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered the text on the box "Have you bought our 10,000,000 Swingball? Do you have the winning golden ticket?" followed by "Win a Family holiday £500 retail voucher Luxury BBQ" would be understood by consumers to mean that there were three top prizes available to be won along with a number of other smaller prizes.
We considered the claim "Congratulations!!!!" which appeared on all 160,000 golden tickets implied that ticket holders had definitely won a prize, but noted this was not the case because only 1018 of tickets contained a winning code. Whilst further text on the ad indicated that the £500 retail voucher would be awarded to a winning code, it did not sufficiently qualify the claim to indicate that other prizes were only awarded to a limited number of ticket holders with winning codes. We considered that the ambiguous way in which the sales promotion was presented implied that all golden ticket holders would be awarded a prize and because this was not the case, we concluded that the sales promotion was misleading and likely to cause disappointment.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 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 8.19 8.19 Promoters must not claim that consumers have won a prize if they have not. The distinction between prizes and gifts, or equivalent benefits, must always be clear. Ordinarily, consumers may expect an item offered to a significant proportion of participants to be described as a ‘gift’, while an item offered to a small minority may be more likely to be described as a ‘prize’. If a promotion offers a gift to a significant proportion and a prize to a minority, special care is needed to avoid confusing the two: the promotion must, for example, state clearly that consumers “qualify” for the gift but have merely an opportunity to win the prize. If a promotion includes, in a list of prizes, a gift for which consumers have qualified, the promoter must distinguish clearly between the two. 8.21 8.21 Promoters must not claim or imply that consumers are luckier than they are. They must not use terms such as "finalist" or "final stage" in a way that implies that consumers have progressed, by chance or skill, to an advanced stage of a promotion if they have not. and 8.21.1 8.21.1 Promoters must not falsely claim or imply that the consumer has already won, will win or will on doing a particular act win a prize (or other equivalent benefit) if the consumer must incur a cost to claim the prize (or other equivalent benefit) or if the prize (or other equivalent benefit) does not exist. (Sales promotions - prize promotions).
Action
The ad should not appear again in its current form. We told Mookie to avoid presenting sales promotions in such a way that they were likely to cause disappointment.
