Ad description
A regional press ad for Oak Furniture Land, seen on 1 February 2018, promoted a sale. The ad was headed “Oakfurniture CLEARANCE” and included images of products with the prices stated below. Bold text next to the products stated “SALE ENDS SUNDAY - WE HAVE THOUSANDS OF ITEMS TO CLEAR. EVERYTHING MUST GO THIS WEEKEND! SAT 3RD - SUN 4TH FEBRUARY. OVER 70% OFF. IN STOCK TO TAKE AWAY TODAY”. Text at the bottom of the page featured the address of the Kidderminster store and its opening hours. Smaller text at the bottom of the ad stated “Images & prices shown are a representation of our constantly changing stock. Actual stock may vary. Please see in store for our latest clearance offers”.
Issue
The complainant, who visited the store and was unable to obtain the advertised products, challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that the products in the ad were available for purchase.
Response
JB Global Ltd t/a Oak Furniture Land explained that the ad was for their Kidderminster clearance store which was a dedicated outlet offering clearance products such as end of line and ex display items. They said that due to the nature of clearance stores, turnaround of stock was almost immediate and therefore it was difficult to provide detailed stock levels.
Oak Furniture Land said that the ad clearly stated that the store was a clearance centre. They highlighted the text in the ad which informed consumers that the images were for guidance only. They acknowledged that the size of the text was small and said that in future, they would ensure it was more prominent.
Oak Furniture Land said that when considering the product content for the ad, the store manager reviewed their current inventory and selected products to be shown on that basis. They provided copies of invoices to demonstrate that the products shown in the ad were purchased during the sale. They also provided a stock audit carried out prior to the publication of the ad. The stock audit showed a list of items that were in store and their quantities.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that the ad featured the headline “Oakfurniture Clearance” followed by the claim “We are the UK’s largest clearance centre”. Further text stated “WE HAVE THOUSANDS OF ITEMS TO CLEAR EVERYTHING MUST GO THIS WEEKEND!” The ad also featured images of different items and their prices. We considered that consumers would understand that the ad was for an Oakfurniture Land clearance store which meant that quantities of items may be limited but would nevertheless expect that the items shown in the ad were available for purchase during the sale period. Whilst we acknowledged that the ad featured the text “images & prices shown are a representation of our constantly changing stock, actual stock may vary”, we considered that the size of the text was significantly smaller than other text which appeared in the ad and likely to be overlooked by consumers.
Oakfurniture Land provided a copy of a stock audit which was carried out for the creation of the ad. The stock audit showed that all 10 items shown in the ad were available for purchase in store. Whilst we noted that the quantity of some items were low, we considered that consumers would appreciate that stock levels may be low during a sale at a clearance store.
Because we had seen evidence which showed that all of the products shown in the ad were available for purchase at the time the ad appeared, we concluded that the ad was not misleading.
We investigated the ad under 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),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation),
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
and
3.10
3.10
Qualifications must be presented clearly.
CAP has published a Help Note on Claims that Require Qualification.
(Qualification), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
