Ad description
An e-mail from Hertz included the subject "Enjoy an irresistible 33% off your car rentals today". Text in the body of the e-mail stated "Savour the scrumptious Hertz Global Sale - 48 hours before everyone else. Belonging to Gold Plus Rewards certainly has plenty of privileges. And here's another: Today, just for you, we're starting our Global Sale two days early. Call it your own private sale event, if you like. Here's the deal. From right now, you can get up to 33% off rentals in over 100 countries when you book any Hertz car, in any place, at any time. By booking early, you'll also be more likely to get just the car you want. All for a price you'll love. The offer's valid on bookings from August 28 until September 15, 2013, for rentals taken between September 1 and March 31 2014. So book today using discount code XXXXXX and make sure you take your pick of the bargains. Before someone else beats you to it".
Issue
The complainant challenged the availability of the advertised promotion, because having attempted to use the promotional code on a number of deals, they found that no discount applied.
Response
Hertz (UK) Ltd explained that the discount applied varied week by week. They said the promotional period included 'blackout periods' when the discount would not be applied. They said that included peak periods, such as Christmas. They said that information was included in the terms and conditions of the offer.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the subject line of the e-mail stated "Enjoy an irresistible 33% off your car rentals today". Without further qualification, we considered consumers would understand the headline claim to mean that bookings in the advertised period would include a 33% discount. However, we understood that was not the case and that the discount would vary across the period.
Text within the body copy stated "… you can get up to 33% off rentals in over 100 countries when you book any Hertz car, in any place, at any time." We were concerned that that contradicted the headline claim. The body copy also featured text that stated "The offer's valid on bookings from August 28 until September 15, 2013, for rentals taken between September 1 and March 31 2014". We therefore considered consumers would understand the body copy to mean that all rentals in the period September 1 and March 31 2014 were available with up to 33% off the price. However, we understood that the promotional period had 'blackout periods' when no discount applied. Furthermore, we understood that those periods included peak periods, such as Christmas. We understood that the complainant had attempted to redeem the offer during one such period and we were concerned the ad did not make clear that significant condition. We therefore considered the presentation of the ad was likely to mislead consumers as to the availability of the advertised promotion and concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising) and
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Hertz to ensure offers were not likely to mislead in future and to ensure that significant conditions were made clear to consumers.
