Ad description
The website www.americangolf.co.uk, for American Golf, an online retailer of golf accessories seen on 8 December 2021, advertised an Arccos Caddie Link for £119.99. Text stated, “The Arccos Caddie Link is a powerful wearable shot tracking device, so you can leave your phone in the bag to play the game your way. The Caddie Link seamlessly links to Arccos Caddie sensors and the Arccos App and automatically records shot data without the need to carry your phone during play”.
Issue
The complainant, who purchased the device but who subsequently found that, after an initial free trial, a yearly subscription was needed to access the information, challenged whether the ad was misleading because it did not state that.Response
American Golf (Trading) Ltd acknowledged receipt of the complaint, but did not provide a substantive response to the ASA's enquiries.Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered consumers would understand the ad to mean that, having purchased the device, they could use it to track their score during play. However, while there was an initial free trial, after the trial ended the customer needed to pay a yearly subscription to access the information.
We acknowledged that American Golf was willing to make changes to their website. Nevertheless, the versions of the ad seen by the complainant and the one being used at time of writing (July 2022) made no mention of the need to pay a subscription to access the data provided by the device. Because we considered the need to pay a subscription was likely to influence a consumer's decision to purchase the device, we concluded that the ad was misleading for not stating that.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. and 3.3 3.3 For advertisements that quote prices for an advertised product or service, material information [for the purposes of rule 3.2] includes: (Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told American Golf to ensure their ads did not mislead by omitting significant information consumers were likely to need before making a decision to purchase ? for example, the need to pay a yearly subscription.
