Promotions and competitions

Helpful information on the advertising rules for promotions and competitions, and examples of previous Advertising Standards Authority rulings in this area.

Advertisers can use promotions or competitions to provide an incentive for the consumer or to make products look more attractive. Often these promotions or competitions are temporary; examples include money-off or “two for the price of one”-type offers, text-to-win competitions and prize draws. Ultimately, it is the advertisers who are responsible for ensuring all aspects and stages of their promotions meet the standards of the advertising rules, even when they are using agencies or other third-parties.

All of our work is centred around the need to protect consumers and this is reflected in the strict rules on promotions and competitions. The advertising rules require promotions and competitions to be conducted equitably and fairly, and advertisers must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment. Promotions and competition prizes must be suitable for the target audience and any promotion or competition that requires a purchase to participate must not be addressed to, or targeted at, children.

All ads should be clear and readily understandable by the intended audience. Advertisers should state accurately and unambiguously all the rules, entry instructions and other material terms of the promotion or competition. In particular, participants in prize promotions should be able to retain conditions, or they should be easily accessible, throughout the promotion. Furthermore, conditions and factors likely to affect a consumer’s decision to participate in a promotion or competition should be prominent in all ads. These conditions include how to participate and the closing date.

For prize draws and competitions, independent judges and observers are required, and ads shouldn’t exaggerate or overstate a consumer’s chance of winning a prize. Ads should also not misrepresent the value, nature or availability of the prize on offer and the prize must be as described in the ad when it is received by the winner.

Before running their promotion or competition, advertisers and promoters may find it useful to research other relevant legislation which they need to abide by to make sure they’re acting lawfully. This includes the data protection legislation for which guidance is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Gambling Act 2005 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations legislation.

+ Read more - Show less

Latest rulings

AGN Events t/a Rock N Roll Circus
- Upheld
- Social media (own site)
- 26 November 2025
An Instagram post by Rock N Roll Circus failed to include all the significant conditions of a promotion.
Storage Giant Ltd
- Upheld
- Email, Website (own site)
- 26 November 2025
Two web pages and an email for a self-storage company made best price guaranteed claims without evidence to support them. They also failed to make sure that quoted prices reflected the total cost people would pay and didn’t make clear when prices were promotional or subject to significant...
Trip.com Travel Singapore Pte. Ltd t/a Trip.com
- Upheld
- Social media (paid ad)
- 26 November 2025
Two paid-for Meta ads for Trip.com for a promotion caused unnecessary disappointment and didn’t provide people with sufficient information to make an informed decision on whether or not to participate. One of the ads also misleadingly implied that an offer was available during a part...
Banquist Ltd t/a Winedrops
- Upheld
- Social media (paid ad), Email
- 05 November 2025
Two emails and a paid-for Instagram ad for an online wine retailer made misleading and unsubstantiated claims about the origin of their wine. They also failed to make clear the basis of the price comparisons and the significant conditions of the promotion.

View all rulings

Promotions and competitions

Helpful information on the advertising rules for promotions and competitions, and examples of previous Advertising Standards Authority rulings in this area.

Latest news

Gambling marketers: Bet on these lucky six tips to come up trumps

A picture says a thousand words. Avoiding misleading imagery in ads

Like, follow and subscribe to our influencer marketing advice

Make the grade with your back-to-school campaigns

What’s the story when advertising ticket sales?

Off with your heads! Keeping within the rules in ads that reference the royals

Latest rulings

AGN Events t/a Rock N Roll Circus

Storage Giant Ltd

Trip.com Travel Singapore Pte. Ltd t/a Trip.com

Banquist Ltd t/a Winedrops

Help getting it right

Popular advice

Promotional marketing: Prize draws

Promotional marketing: terms and conditions and significant conditions

Multi-Level Marketing

Relevant codes

28 Competitions

08 Promotional marketing