Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A Facebook post for a promotion by Bier Nuts, posted on 22 February 2021, included the caption “1,000,000 Beer Giveaway? & everyone who enters is a guaranteed winner! If you love or know someone who loves beers this is the competition for you Prizes drawn Sunday 14th March at 18:00pm 3 times entries to the Overall Main Prize for all new & existing customers This also helps us with the giveaway How to Win? 1) Click the link to the Giveaway page 2) Enter your Name & Email address 3) Receive your winning Prize to your email on Sunday 14th March at 18:00pm Best of Luck to all Link here: [link] Prizes: 1st: £120,000 worth of beers, snacks & merch. Delivered over 12 months (£10,000 each month & can be shared with friends/family) 500 Runners Up: £100 worth of beers, snacks & merch delivered for free to your choice of address 3rd prize: £5-£20 in Bier Vouchers to use on the Bier Nuts webshop (no spend limit) T&C’s: Must be over the age of 18 to enter Giveaway entry is valid from 22/02/2021-14/03/2021 Challenge 25 applies on delivery as per our shipping policy Valid for UK postcodes only Prizes will be delivered via email to the email addresses entered in the form for the giveaway page Winning vouchers can be used against any online products from www.biernuts.co.uk Offer is valid for one customer only Discount code is entered in the ‘discount code’ option at checkout Customers with a purchase history will be entered 3 times into the overall winning prize”.
A video underneath featured a wall stacked with beer cans and a man in front of it explaining the promotion while on-screen text stated “£1,000,000 BEER GIVEAWAY”. A woman appeared and stated, “All you have to do to enter is click the link below, right down here, enter your email address and your name so we can get the prize over to you.” The entry form appeared on-screen and included the text “Giveaway ends at 18:00pm ON 14/03/20” and “We are giving away a whopping £1,000,000 worth of beer, and everyone is a guaranteed winner! Yes you heard that right! (Prizes are below) Customers with a purchase history gain 3x entries to the overall winning prize!” The form also included spaces to enter a first and last name and an email address and a button to “Enter”.
Issue
1. One complainant, who found no evidence that all of the 500 runners up prizes had been awarded, challenged whether the promotion had been conducted fairly.
2. A second complainant, who had won a runner-up prize worth £100 but received a prize worth £70, challenged whether the promotion had been conducted fairly.
Response
Bier Nuts acknowledged the complaints but did not provide a substantive response to the ASA’s enquiries.Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Bier Nuts’ lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
1. & 2. Upheld
The ad included the claims “£1,000,000 Beer Giveaway & everyone who enters is a guaranteed winner!” and “Prizes: 1st: £120,000 worth of beers, snacks & merch. Delivered over 12 months (£10,000 each month & can be shared with friends/family) 500 Runners Up: £100 worth of beers, snacks & merch delivered for free to your choice of address 3rd prize: £5-£20 in Bier Vouchers to use on the Bier Nuts webshop”.
The ASA considered that the nature of the promotion was not clear. References to “1,000,000 beer giveaway” and “everyone who enters is a guaranteed winner” suggested it was a giveaway (in which beers would be awarded to all or many of those who entered); albeit with an allocation limited to 1,000,000 beers. However, the ad also listed “prizes” and suggested there would only be a first prize and “runners up”; indicating a prize draw which involved an element of chance. While we considered that consumers would understand that there was a giveaway element we considered that they would also take from the post that the high value “prizes” would be allotted via a draw in accordance with the laws of chance.
The CAP Code required promoters to either publish or make available information that indicated that a valid award took place and to provide that information to the ASA if challenged. The Code also stated that promoters must award prizes as described in their marketing communications or reasonable equivalents, normally within 30 days.
Because Bier Nuts had not responded we had neither seen any information about how the promotion had been administered nor had evidence that demonstrated that prizes had been awarded as described. Nor had we seen evidence that they had published or made available information that valid awards took place. In the absence of that we concluded the promotion had not been conducted fairly and that it breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
8.1
8.1
Promoters are responsible for all aspects and all stages of their promotions.
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) and
8.28.5
8.28.5
Promoters must either publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place – ordinarily the surname and county of major prizewinners and, if applicable, their winning entries. At or before the time of entry, promoters must inform entrants of their intention to publish or make available the information and give them the opportunity to object to their information being published or made available, or to reduce the amount of information published or made available. In such circumstances, the promoter must nevertheless still provide the information and winning entry to the ASA if challenged. The privacy of prizewinners must not be prejudiced by the publication of personal information and in limited circumstances (for example, in relation to National Savings) promoters may need to comply with a legal requirement not to publish such information.
(Prize promotions).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Bier Nuts Ltd to conduct their promotions equitably and fairly and to publish the names of prize winners in future. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
