Use of "free"

Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.

The CAP Code makes clear that ads must not describe a product as "free” if the consumer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding and collecting, or paying for delivery, of the item.

By way of example, in 2024 Samsung stated “Claim 6 months free Persil detergent when you buy a Samsung…washing machine”. In fact, consumers were only able to redeem coupons which partially covered the cost of liquid and capsules. The ad breached the Code; the ASA made clear an advertiser must not describe a promotional item as “free” if consumers had to pay towards its cost (Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd, 27 November 2024).

The rules and guidance apply to any word which is likely to mean the same as ‘free’ in the context of the ad. Claims such as “gratis”, “complimentary”, “without charge” and similar are likely to be understood to mean “free”.

Make it clear how customers can take advantage of a ”free” offer
Don’t charge anything other than uninflated postage cost
Don’t compensate by inflating other costs or reducing quality
Conditional purchase promotions
Free vs inclusive
Free trials and satisfaction or your money back offers

Make it clear how customers can take advantage of a free offer

Rule 3.23 states that ads must make clear the extent of the commitment the consumer must make to take advantage of a “free” offer. If consumers must make a purchase, sign up to a newsletter or open a subscription to receive something for free, this information must be clearly included in the ad.

In 2023, the ASA decided consumers would interpret “FREE EGG CHAIR”, and “FREE” in relation to a parasol, to mean they could obtain those items for free from the advertiser. Because the items could only be obtained if consumers ordered other items up to a minimum order value, and this was not made clear, the “free” claim was deemed to be misleading (AOS Trading Ltd t/a Rattan Hut, 06 September 2023). See also Winning Deals Ltd, 06 August 2014 and Proacademichelp.co.uk, 11 September 2019.

Similarly, complaints in respect of the webpages of Complete Savings were upheld. The ads did not make clear that for consumers to obtain “free” cashback, or a Welcome Reward, they had to enter into a paid monthly subscription and actively claim the reward (Webloyalty, Complete Savings, 23 October 2024) See also On That Ass, 15 February 2023.

If advertising a "free trial" subscription offer, the ad should make clear whether a paid subscription starts automatically (after the trial) unless cancelled, and if so, the extent of the financial commitment if the subscription is not cancelled, and any other significant conditions.

For detailed guidance on free trials see ‘Promotional marketing: subscription offers and free trials’.

Don’t charge anything other than uninflated postage cost

Promoters wishing to offer “free” goods must not charge for anything other than postage. Other fees such as packaging, packing, administration or handling charges (as per rule 3.24.1), and insurance, should not be passed on to the consumer. The cost of postage should not be inflated by the advertiser to compensate for giving away the free item.

The ASA upheld complaints about an app for a photo printing company which stated “FREE PHOTO PRINTS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR”. In some cases, consumers were paying more than the minimum cost of postage to obtain the “free” prints, therefore the prints should not have been described as “free”. In addition, the ad breached the CAP Code because it did not make clear that consumers had to pay for postage to obtain the free prints (PlanetArt UK Ltd, 03 August 2022).

For more information, see Postage and Packing.

Don’t compensate by inflating other costs or reducing quality

Products must not be described as “free” if the cost of response, including the price of a product that the consumer must buy to take advantage of the offer, has been increased, except where the increase results from factors that are unrelated to the cost of the promotion (rule 3.24.2).

The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claim “gift” to be synonymous with the claim “free”, when investigating complaints about ads for a magazine which stated “fabulous exclusive gift”. In this case, there was a relationship between the total price of the magazine and the value of the gift which came with that issue, and issues sold at a higher price had gifts of an objectively greater value. Therefore, the promotional item did not offer a genuine additional benefit received as a result of purchasing the magazines, and the claim “gift” was misleading (Practical Publishing Ltd, 4 September 2019). An online ad for a TV which included a “FREE LG SH7 sound bar” for £1999 was ruled against by the ASA because the TV was previously sold on its own for £1749 and the price had been increased when the soundbar was added (John Lewis, 12 July 2017).

If offering a product for free, marketers must not reduce the size or quality of the item that is being offered to reduce the costs incurred by offering something for free (rule 3.24.3). For example, if a free beauty product is being offered with a magazine and the usual selling price is stated, the product must not be smaller in size than the product which the consumer would otherwise buy separately.

Whilst marketers can charge postage costs, these should not be inflated by the marketer to cover the costs of offering the free item.

See Postage and Packing for further details.

Conditional purchase promotions

If the item that is being described as "free" is genuinely separate from and additional to the item that the customer is required to pay for, the offer qualifies as a conditional-purchase promotion and the item may legitimately be described as "free". For such promotions, it must be clear how customers can get the free item. As stated above, the quality of the paid for item should not have been reduced, its price should not have increased (unless this increase results from unrelated factors), and customers should not have to pay anything other than uninflated postage costs.

Examples of conditional purchase promotions include: where the paid-for item is separable from the free item, such as a free lipstick with the purchase of a magazine. In 2014, the ASA received a complaint about the use of “free” in an ad for a promotion which stated “two can dine for £10 with free wine”. The ASA considered this to be a conditional purchase promotion. This was because the wine was genuinely separable from the paid-for items, was not supplied with the paid-for items unless the customer complied with the terms of the promotion, and the price remained the same with or without the free item. The complaint was not upheld, as in all circumstances the consumer was not required to pay a fee for the beverage, and the ad made clear that consumers would receive a main course, side dish dessert and bottle of wine for £10 (Marks and Spencer plc 24 December 2014).

Where an item is not genuinely separate from, and additional to the item(s) that the customer has to pay for, it may be considered an inclusive part of a package price and should not be described as “free” (see ‘Free vs inclusive’ below).

When offering free items as part of a promotion, marketers should consider our advice on promotional marketing, and on the availability of promotional items.

Marketers should also be careful not to generally mislead when using claims like “free”. For example, the ASA decided an on-pack promotion was misleading in 2023. The promotion stated a “FREE ADULT TICKET” was available “when you buy a full on the day…ticket”. The “on the day” ticket purchase had to be made in advance to claim the second free ticket. The ad did not disclose the existence of cheaper “advance” tickets, which were approximately half the price. The ad therefore misled consumers, as the promotional saving did not align with a consumer’s interpretation of a “free ticket. This was because the maximum saving that would have been made by purchasing one “on the day” ticket, as opposed to two “advance” tickets, was £10 (Kellogg Company, 20 December 2023).

Free vs inclusive

In contrast to a conditional-purchase promotion, the CAP Code prohibits the use of “free” to describe an element of a package if the cost of that element is included in the package price, unless consumers are likely to regard that element as an additional benefit because it has recently been added to the package without increasing its price (rule 3.25).

Something is likely to be considered a package if:

It offers a combination of features or products for one long-term, inclusive price.
Customers cannot exercise genuine choice on how many elements of the package they receive for that price.
Each element is intrinsic to the quality and composition of the package being advertised for that price.

Where customers cannot exercise genuine choice over how many elements they receive for the price paid, and the elements are all usually included in the package price, none of the elements should be described as “free”.

The ASA upheld a complaint against an ad for a property management company which included the claims “FREE SUPERFAST WIFI” and “FREE WORK FROM HOME AREAS”. The advertiser acknowledged that the cost of the WiFi and those working areas which did not require a hire fee were in any case included in the package cost. The WiFi and working areas were not therefore “free” (Quintain Living Ltd, 14 August 2024).

In 2018, ads for a magazine offered a “free gift” with magazine purchases. All issues of the magazine came with a “gift”, the magazine was not usually sold at £5.99 without the promotional items, and the promotional items did not have a standalone price separate from the price of the magazine. Therefore, the ASA considered that the promotional items described as “free … gifts” were actually included in the price of each magazine, and should not have been described as “free” (Practical Publishing International Ltd, 16 May 2018).

An ad for a camera which cost £179.99 and included the text “plus free 16GB SD Card & Case” was considered misleading because the same camera was for sale at the same time without a SD card for £159.99. Because the camera and the SD card cost more when bought together than the camera on its own, the SD card was not genuinely “free”, and was included in the package price (Argos Ltd, 25 April 2018).

If marketers add an element to an existing package, without increasing the price of the package or reducing the quality or composition of the elements that are already included in the package, they may describe that added element as “free” for a limited period. Once the element has formed part of the package for a certain period, consumers are likely to regard it as a standard “inclusive” feature of the package. As a rule of thumb, marketers should avoid describing elements that have formed part of a package for more than six months as “free”.

Free trials and satisfaction or your money back offers

Promoters should not use the term “free trial” to describe “satisfaction or your money back” offers, “buy one get one free” offers or other offers for which a non-refundable purchase is required (Rule 3.26).