Ad description
An Instagram post by Yolé, an ice cream and frozen yoghurt retailer, posted on August 8 2021, included an image which included the text “WIN A YOLÉ HAMPER!” and “COMPLETE THE STEPS LISTED”. Text alongside stated “WIN A YOLÉ HAMPER!!!” and listed the contents of the hamper: “YOLÉ takeaway box with 4 toppings worth £19.95 £10 Voucher to purchase anything in store Cotton and Cooler bag Reusable coffe [sic] cup”. Further text stated “There will be 10 lucky winners who can collect their prizes from Lakeside shopping centre or Canary Wharf!! To enter: 1. Tag a friend in comments 2. Like this post 3. Share to story and tag us (Bonus entries: the more you tag the more entries you get. One comment per tag) Complete all the steps to win! Be quick as the winner will be announced in only one week!!!”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that most of the winners were influencers, challenged whether the promotion was administered fairly and the prizes were awarded in accordance with the laws of chance.Response
Yolé Global Pte Ltd t/a Yolé did not respond to the ASA’s enquiriesAssessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Yolé’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
The CAP Code stated that promoters must conduct their promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly and honourably with participants and potential participants.
Promoters must also ensure that prizes were awarded in accordance with the laws of chance and, unless winners were selected by a computer process that produced verifiably random results, by an independent person, or under the supervision of an independent person.
We understood from the ad that the prize draw was to win a Yolé hamper and that, in order to enter, entrants were required to tag a friend in the comments, like the post, share to their story and tag Yolé. We understood from information provided by the complainant that nine out of the ten prize winners were influencers, two of whom had previously worked with Yolé. We did not receive any information from the advertiser about how the promotion had been administered, including on the process by which the winners were selected. In the absence of such information, we considered that Yolé had not demonstrated that the prize had been awarded in accordance with the laws of chance or that participants had been dealt with fairly. We therefore concluded that the promotion breached the Code.
The promotion breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 8.2 (Promotional marketing) and 8.24 (Prize promotions).
Action
We told Yolé Global Pte Ltd t/a Yolé to ensure in future that prizes were awarded in accordance with the laws of chance and, unless winners were selected by a computer process that produced verifiably random results, by an independent person or under the supervision of an independent person. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
