Ad description
Two promotions on Centrale Shopping Centre Ltd’s Facebook page seen on 6 May and 8 June 2016 respectively:
a. The first post featured text that stated “Centrale Shopping Centre Croydon 5 May WIN A £500 GIFT CARD! To celebrate the Your 5 event this weekend, we’re giving away a £500 gift card! All you need to do is download our PLUS app and take part in the competition http://bit.ly/centraleplus”.
b. The second post featured text that stated ““Centrale Shopping Centre Croydon 8 June COMPETITION TIME! Father’s Day is only a few weeks away and we’ve got the perfect gadget up for grabs for one lucky winner. Download our Centrale PLUS app and enter the competition on the home screen to win an Apple watch. Download for iPhone: http://bit.ly/PLUSiOS Download for Android http://bit.ly/PLUSAndroid”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that details of the winners had not been published, challenged whether the promotions had been administered fairly.
Response
Centrale Shopping Centre Ltd (Centrale Shopping Centre) did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Centrale Shopping Centre's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of the CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We understood that consumers had to download the Centrale ‘PLUS’ app to enter the promotions advertised in ads (a) and (b). However, we had not seen evidence demonstrating that a winner was awarded or that the prize winners had been published, and thereby that the competition was genuine. We considered that the promotion had not been conducted equitably or that Centrale Shopping Centre had dealt honourably with participants, and concluded that the promotion breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 8.1 8.1 Promoters are responsible for all aspects and all stages of their promotions. 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. (Promotional marketing) and 8.28.5 8.28.5 Promoters must either publish or make available on request the name and county of major prizewinners and, if applicable, their winning entries except in the limited circumstances where promoters are subject to a legal requirement never to publish such information. Promoters must obtain consent to such publicity from all competition entrants at the time of entry. Prizewinners must not be compromised by the publication of excessive personal information (Prize promotions).
Action
The promotion must not appear again in its current form. We told Centrale Shopping Centre to conduct their promotions equitably and fairly and to publish the names of competition winners in future. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.
