Ad description
A national press ad for UK Direct Shop, promoting SuperGreen Lawn Seed, seen in May 2020, included the text “WORTH £12.95 Order over 1kg and get a 500g pack absolutely FREE! PACK COVERS 25M2/270 sq ft”. An order form at the bottom of the page stated the prices for different sized bags of the product including the amounts saved based on crossed-out prices. The price of a 500g bag was £12.95.The price of a 1kg bag was £19.90, based on a saving of £6 off the crossed-out price of £25.90. The price of a 1.5kg bag with 500g free was £36.80, based on a saving of £15.00 off the crossed-out price of £51.80. The price of a 2kg bag with 500g free was £44.75, based on a saving of £20.00 off the crossed-out price of £64.75.
Issue
The complainant, who believed that the prices had been increased to include part of the cost of the free item, challenged whether the ad was misleading.Response
UK Direct Shop Services Ltd t/a UK Direct Shop Ltd (via their marketing agency) stated that the prices and offers were correct and provided the background to how the offers were structured. UK Direct Shop confirmed that one bag was £12.95. Therefore, if a customer ordered 1kg (two bags) it should have been £25.90. However, they offered a discount of £6 which made the price for two bags, £19.90. They explained that the offer was to encourage customers to buy more than 500g. UK Direct Shop further explained that an order of 1.5kg (three bags) should have been £38.85, but they discounted that to £36.90 to round the saving to £15.00. UK Direct Shop explained that customers ordering 2kg would not receive two 1kg bags but rather four 500g bags. They added that should have cost £51.80 and with a free bag at a value of £12.95 the total cost would have been £64.75. They explained that they rounded up the saving to £20.00, including the free bag, to make it an attractive offer. UK Direct Shop acknowledged that 2kg order would have cost more than ordering two 1kg bags. However, they wanted to give a strong offer for ordering 1kg. UK Direct Shop believed that their error was arguably giving too big a discount on 1kg but they wanted customers to order more than 500g.Assessment
Upheld The ASA noted that marketers must not describe an element of packaging as “free” if that element was included in the package price, unless consumers were likely to regard it as an additional benefit because it had recently been added to the package without increasing its price. We considered that consumers would understand from the ad that the reference price for a 1kg bag was £25.90 with a saving of £6.00, the 1.5kg (plus 500g free) bag was £51.80 with a saving of £15.00 and 2kg (plus 500g free) bag was £64.75 with a saving of £20.00. However, we understood that UK Direct Shop had included the cost of the “500g FREE” in the reference prices and the savings figures for the 1.5kg and 2kg bags. Therefore, the reference price for a 1.5kg bag was actually £38.85 and the reference price for a 2kg bag was actually £51.80. Similarly, the savings figures were calculated to include the saving obtained by including the price of the 500g bag. Because UK Direct Shop had included the cost of the “FREE” 500g item in the savings figures and reference prices, we considered that it was misleading to describe the “500g” as “FREE” and the ad therefore breached the Code. The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 The standards objectives, insofar as they relate to advertising, include:a) that persons under the age of 18 are protected;
b) that material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or lead to disorder is not included in television and radio services;
c) that the proper degree of responsibility is exercised with respect to the content of programmes which are religious programmes;
d) that generally accepted standards are applied to the contents of television and radio services so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from inclusion in such services of offensive and harmful material;
e) that the inclusion of advertising which may be misleading, harmful or offensive in television and radio services is prevented;
f) that the international obligations of the United Kingdom with respect to advertising included in television and radio services are complied with [in particular in respect of television those obligations set out in Articles 3b, 3e,10, 14, 15, 19, 20 and 22 of Directive 89/552/EEC (the Audi Visual Media Services Directive)];
g) that there is no use of techniques which exploit the possibility of conveying a message to viewers or listeners, or of otherwise influencing their minds, without their being aware, or fully aware, of what has occurred"
Section 319(2). (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Advertisements must not falsely imply that the advertiser is acting as a consumer or for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession. Advertisements must make clear their commercial intent, if that is not obvious from the context. (Substantiation), 3.17 3.17 Advertisements must not explicitly claim that the advertiser's job or livelihood is in jeopardy if consumers do not buy the advertised product or service. (Prices) and 3.25 3.25 Advertisements must make clear the extent of the commitment consumers must make to take advantage of a "free" offer.
Advertisements must not describe items as "free" if: (Free).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told UK Direct Shop Services Ltd t/a UK Direct Shop Ltd not to describe an element of a package as “free” if that element was included in the package price unless consumers were likely to regard it as an additional benefit because it had recently been added to the package without increasing its price.
