Ad description
A Facebook post for Axer Markets, a financial markets trading insights company, dated 13 February 2018 stated “COMPETITION TIME! Like & Share our page for a chance to win a £100 Amazon voucher. Competition ends February 28th, the winner will be announced shortly afterwards!”.
Issue
The complainant, who had been informed that they had won the competition but had not received the prize, challenged whether the promotion had been administered fairly.
Response
Axer Markets said that a separate winner had been announced and that they had been awarded the advertised prize.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that promoters must award the prize as described in their marketing communications or reasonable equivalents, normally within 30 days. They must also ensure their promotions were conducted under proper supervision, that participants were able to retain or access terms and conditions throughout the promotion and they must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment.
However, we had not received any information about how the promotion had been administered, nor evidence which showed that prizes had been awarded. In the absence of that, we concluded that the promotion had not been administered fairly and was in breach of the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 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. 8.14 8.14 Promoters must ensure that their promotions are conducted under proper supervision and make adequate resources available to administer them. Promoters, agencies and intermediaries should not give consumers justifiable grounds for complaint. 8.15.1 8.15.1 Promoters must award the prizes as described in their marketing communications or reasonable equivalents, normally within 30 days. 8.27 8.27 Withholding prizes (see rules 8.15.1 and 8.28 8.28 Participants must be able to retain conditions or easily access them throughout the promotion. In addition to rule 8.17, prize promotions must specify on all marketing communications or other material referring to them, the following information, clearly before or at the time of entry, where the omission of any of the specified items is likely to mislead. 2) is justified only if participants have not met the qualifying criteria set out clearly in the rules of the promotion. and 8.28 8.28 Participants must be able to retain conditions or easily access them throughout the promotion. In addition to rule 8.17, prize promotions must specify on all marketing communications or other material referring to them, the following information, clearly before or at the time of entry, where the omission of any of the specified items is likely to mislead. (Promotional Marketing)
Action
We told Axer Markets to ensure that they awarded prizes as described in their marketing communications and that promotions were conducted under proper supervision.
