Background
On 6 April 2025, the Advertising Codes were updated to reflect the revocation and restatement of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs – the legislation from which the majority of the CAP and BCAP rules on misleading advertising derived) by the Unfair Commercial Practices provisions in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA).
On that date, the wording of a number of the rules in the Advertising Codes was changed to reflect relevant changes introduced by the DMCCA. Given that the complaint that formed the subject of this ruling were received before 6 April 2025, the ASA considered the ads and complaint under the wording of the rules that existed prior to 6 April 2025, and the Ruling (and references to rules within it) should therefore be read in line with this wording, available here – CAP Code and BCAP Code.
Ad description
A paid-for Google search ad and a website for MyFlowers, seen on 28 March 2025:
a. The paid-for Google search ad stated, “Flowers Harrogate – Flowers in 3 Hours – myflowers.co.uk”. Further text stated, “Same-day & Free Next-day Flower Delivery”.
b. The website homepage, myflowers.co.uk, featured the text “Free UK delivery from 3 hours”. A product listing included a graphic near the top of the page, underneath the product’s price and a “Send now” button, which stated, “Delivery in 3 hours from the moment you order”. Further down the page, underneath a list of “Recently Viewed” items, and product reviews, under the heading “Details”, text stated, “Please note, the selected arrangement is available for Same-Day delivery only within London”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that same-day delivery only applied to London, challenged whether the ads were misleading.
Response
MyFlowers Ltd said that they planned to implement changes to their ads and their website to make clear that delivery within three hours from the moment a consumer made a purchase was only possible in selected locations. In relation to ad (b), they said that they would ensure that any significant limitations were clearly communicated when relevant.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered consumers would understand from the claim “flowers in 3 hours” in ad (a) that flowers could be delivered within three hours in Harrogate from the moment a consumer made a purchase. In addition, we considered the claim “Same-day & Free Next-day Flower Delivery” would be understood by consumers to mean that same-day and free next-day delivery of flowers was also available in Harrogate. However, we understood that was not the case, because same-day delivery was only available in London.
We further considered consumers would understand the claims “Free UK delivery from 3 hours” and “Delivery in 3 hours from the moment you order” in ad (b) to mean that delivery was available within three hours to UK addresses without exception. We acknowledged that text further down the product listing page stated, “the selected arrangement is available for Same-Day delivery only within London”. However, that text was only viewable by scrolling down, and it was possible to proceed to purchase without seeing the text. We considered that qualification was not sufficiently prominent, and in any case, contradicted the claim in the ad, because it had made direct reference to delivery within three hours being possible across the country.
We acknowledged that MyFlowers stated they would make changes to their ads, such as by replacing “same-day delivery” in regional ads with “fast delivery” and adding clarification that delivery from 3 hours was only possible in selected areas. However, at the time the ads appeared, they implied that same-day delivery and delivery within three hours was available in all UK locations when this was not the case. We therefore concluded that the ads were misleading and breached the Code.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Qualifications).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told MyFlowers Ltd to ensure that future ads did not state or imply that same-day delivery was available in all instances, or for all UK addresses, if that was not the case.
