Ad description

A website, www.greenpromocode.com, which purported to offer online discounts, seen on 17 October 2017, featured the headline "Nutmeg Promo Codes 2017." Text stated "We have 3 nutmeg coupons for you to consider including 0 promo codes and 2 deals in October 2017. Grab a free nutmeg.com coupons [sic] and save money. Nutmeg is an online investment management service". Text under the heading "Nutmeg Deals & Discounts for October 2017" promoted three deals with Nutmeg. The first promotion stated "Free Preview Portfolio Available. Click this amazing deal and make use of these financial benefits provided by Nutmeg at no cost" alongside a "Get Deal" link. Text above the claim stated "Coupon Verified! 5 People Used". The second promotion stated "£0 Initial Fees Available. Use this amazing deal to know all your financial investments and service details by setting up your account with no changes. Be first to grab it" alongside a "Get Deal" link. Text above the claim stated "6 People used". The third promotion stated "Start an ISA From as Little as £500. From as little as £500 you could open and start saving with your new Nutmeg ISA account" alongside a "Get Deal" link. Text above the claim stated "1 People Used".

Issue

Nutmeg Saving and Investment Ltd, who stated that the deals were not genuine and that they had not provided Greenpromocode.com any discounts to be used on their website, challenged whether the promotions were misleading.

Response

Fayong Hu t/a Greenpromocode.com did not respond to the ASA’s enquires.

Assessment

The ASA was concerned by Greenpromocode.com's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule  1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code.  (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a substantive response.

Upheld

We considered that consumers would understand from the advertised promo codes that they were genuine promotions offered by Greenpromocode.com that could be used on the Nutmeg website. We considered consumers would understand from the claims “5 People Used” and “6 People Used” that the promo codes had already been successfully used by consumers. We understood from Nutmeg, however, that they had not provided greenpromocode.com any discounts or offers to be used on their own website. In the absence of any evidence that the deals were genuine offers, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Greenpromocode.com to remove the deals from their website. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

1.7     3.1    


More on