Ad description
A competition on Twitter, seen on 13 June 2017, which stated “#WIN a £100 hamper filled with #organic goodies. Take a snap of your fav breakkie [sic] product we sell & tag us using #Wakeuptoorganic".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the competition was administered fairly.
Response
As Nature Intended Ltd explained that they launched a competition “Wake up to Organic”, as part of a day of celebrating organic products promoted by the Organic Trade Board and the Soil Association in collaboration with their best organic brands. They wanted to further promote the event by asking people for pictures of their favourite organic breakfast products that they could find in their shops, clarifying that they had six shops in London.
They launched the competition on Twitter with two tweets, the first stating “#Win a £100 hamper filled with #organic goodies. Take a snap of your fav brekkieproduct we sell & tag us using #wakeuptoorganic” and the second tweet stating “#win #organic prizes including @rudehealth products-take a snap of your fav #organic product we sell and tag us mentioning #wakeuptoorganic”.
They explained that due to space limitations they found it impossible to add terms and conditions. They explained that they assumed that by asking people to post a picture of a product that As Nature Intended sold the contestant would be either based in London or able to reach one of their shops.
They explained that the complainant did not win the competition because they had not entered correctly. The competition asked for a picture of the contestant’s favourite product sold at As Natured Intended, however the complainant sent an image of generic porridge. The image did not include or mention a product sold by As Nature Intended and it was not clear whether the porridge was the advertiser’s product.
They stated the complainant had seemed enthusiastic and had made an effort so they decided to reward the complainant with a complimentary prize which included porridge oats from all the brands they sold that were participating in the “Wake up to Organic” event. They acknowledged that they could have made it clearer, when they notified the complainant that they were one of the winners, that they considered ‘winners’ to be anyone who received a prize, big or small.
They stated that they were unable to award the main prize hamper because the winner had failed to get in contact with them and they had kept it until early September when they had decided to donate the prize to a charity event.
They stated that they had tried to be clear and specific in their terms and conditions and they were planning to launch a competition page on their website that would include the full terms and conditions which would link through from any tweets.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that promoters must award the prizes as described in their marketing communications and avoid causing unnecessary disappointment. They must also ensure their promotions were administered fairly.
The ASA understood that there were no references to terms and conditions included in the tweet and the complainant had not been clearly notified that they had only won a runner up prize and not the hamper advertised. We considered the inferiority of the prize the complainant received and the lack of remedy made available to them was likely to cause unnecessary disappointment.
We also considered that because the prize featured in the competition was not awarded and the complainant had not been clearly notified that they had not won the main prize, the competition had not been administered fairly.
For those reasons we concluded the promotion was misleading and had not complied with the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
8.2
8.2
Promoters must conduct their promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly and honourably with participants and potential participants. Promoters must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment.
(Promotional marketing)
8.15.1
8.15.1
Promoters must award the prizes as described in their marketing communications or reasonable equivalents, normally within 30 days.
(Administration)
8.17
8.17
All marketing communications or other material referring to promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such conditions or information is likely to mislead. Significant conditions or information may, depending on the circumstances, include:
8.17.1
8.17.1
How to participate
How to participate, including significant conditions and costs, and other major factors reasonably likely to influence consumers' decision or understanding about the promotion
(Significant conditions for promotions)
8.28
8.28
Participants must be able to retain conditions or easily access them throughout the promotion. In addition to rule
8.17
8.17
All marketing communications or other material referring to promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such conditions or information is likely to mislead. Significant conditions or information may, depending on the circumstances, include:
prize promotions must specify on all marketing communications or other material referring to them, the following information, clearly before or at the time of entry, where the omission of any of the specified items is likely to mislead.
(Prize promotions).
Action
We told As Nature Intended Ltd to avoid causing unnecessary disappointment to consumers in the administration of future promotions. We told them to award the prize as described (or a reasonable equivalent) and to ensure that their terms and conditions were clearly stated.
