Ad description
A radio ad for Wren Kitchens, heard on Talk Sport on 20 February 2017. The voice-over stated, "Right now, in Wren Kitchens' Winter Sale, kitchens are half price, plus an extra 25% off - and, there's 10% off sinks and taps. Hurry, offer ends tonight, 10pm."
Issue
The complainant, who understood that later ads described the Winter Sale as ending on 1 March, challenged whether the claim "Hurry, offer ends tonight, 10pm" was misleading.
Response
Wren Living Ltd t/a Wren Kitchens noted that the complaint was based on the fact that ads that were broadcast after this ad described the Winter Sale as ending on 1 March 2017, whereas this ad included the statement “Hurry, offer ends tonight”.
They explained that the Wren Winter Sale consisted of a primary offer (the half price, plus an extra 25% off, offer) supplemented by different secondary offers as the Winter Sale period progressed. Accordingly, at various times throughout the Winter Sale Period, offers would end and be replaced by different ones. The final day of the offer, which was “half price, plus 25 % plus 10% off sinks and taps” was on 20 February 2017. That offer ended, as advertised, at 10 pm that evening. If a potential customer wanted to take advantage of the advertised offer then they had to do so by that point in time. The Winter Sale, however, continued with a different offer until, as advertised, 1 March 2017.
Radiocentre said their clearance of the ad had been accompanied by the condition that it was dependent on all price claims being compliant with the CTSI's Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices. They had advised that the following be noted: that reduced prices should not be offered for a longer period than the previous higher price applied; RRPs must represent a genuine selling price; and that end dates must be genuine and should only be changed in unforeseen circumstances.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the claim “Hurry, offer ends tonight” that the Winter Sale would be ending on the date the ad was broadcast – 20 February. However, we understood that was not the case, and that the sale was due to end on 1 March. We noted that Wren Kitchens intended to convey that the part of the sale that would end on 20 February was the 10% reduction on sinks and taps. However, we considered that it was not clear from the claim that the wider sale would still be ongoing. Consumers were therefore likely to understand that they would need to take up the offer by the date the ad was broadcast in order to take advantage of the half price plus 25% off elements of the sale. Because that was not the case, we concluded the ad was misleading.
The ad breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told Wren Living Ltd to ensure they made sufficiently clear which aspects of a sale would be ending on a stated closing date.
