Ad description
Claims on www.odeon.co.uk, for the Odeon cinema chain, featured text which stated "ODEON PREMIERE CLUB 15% ONLINE DISCOUNT To celebrate reaching two million members, we are now giving ODEON Premiere Club members 15% off tickets booked online, all day, every day. ODEON Premiere Club is the loyalty scheme for film fans, where you can collect ODEON Points to spend on film tickets, soft drinks and snacks. If you are already a member, simply login before you book tickets and see how you can save 15% online*. Check out the films that are Now Showing, and book tickets today. Don't forget, you can use this offer to get 15% off the tickets you book for yourself as well as your friends and family online - that includes the ODEON website, ODEON mobile site, ODEON iPhone and Android apps, and the ODEON Facebook Event Organiser*".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the 15% savings claim was misleading, because a ticket card handling fee of 75p applied to each ticket purchased online.
Response
Odeon Cinemas (Odeon) said the ads did not state that consumers would make a total saving of 15% when booking online, rather they believed the ad made clear that the discount applied to the advertised ticket price. They provided evidence to demonstrate that.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted that the body copy referred to a 15% discount on the ticket price. However, we considered the average consumer would infer from the headline claim that a 15% discount applied to the total cost of purchasing tickets through the Odeon Premier Club scheme. Because the savings claim did not include the cost of the card handling fee, we concluded that the ad was misleading and 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
3.18
3.18
Quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers. However, VAT-exclusive prices may be given if all those to whom the price claim is clearly addressed pay no VAT or can recover VAT. Such VAT-exclusive prices must be accompanied by a prominent statement of the amount or rate of VAT payable.
(Prices).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Odeon to ensure quoted prices included non-optional fees in future.
