Ad description
An Instagram post and a TikTok post by CrypticKits, seen on 7 June 2023:
a. The Instagram post featured an image of a £1 coin. A caption on the post stated “We are excited to share with you, a limited time offer. £1 for a mystery football shirt box, yes you read that correctly, £1! This exclusive offer will only be available until June 16th, so be quick and don’t miss out. Our football shirts are of the highest quality and come in a range of sizes and colours to suit your preferences. This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of your old, outdated and peeled apart shirt and get your hands on a brand new shirt to add to your collection. The perfect gift for any football fan, the thrill and excitement of unboxing a brand new football shirt […] Which team will you get? #cryptickits #smallbusiness #footballshirt #mysterybox #1pound”.
b. The TikTok post featured a video of football shirts with text stating “£1 for a mystery football shirt! Don’t believe me? Check out our website”. A caption on the post stated “£1 football shirt #cryptickits #1pound #viralvideotrending #businessgrowth”.
Issue
Two complainants, who understood the ads were for a promotion to win a football shirt, challenged whether they misleadingly implied that consumers could purchase a shirt for £1.Response
CrypticKits did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by CrypticKits’ lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We considered the reference to “£1 for a mystery football shirt” in both ads would have been interpreted by consumers to mean that they could purchase a football shirt for £1, but that they would not know which team’s shirt they would be buying. We considered that the phrases “This exclusive offer”, “Our football shirts are of the highest quality and come in a range of sizes and colours”, “get your hands on a brand new shirt”, “The perfect gift for any football fan”, “the thrill of unboxing a brand new football shirt” and “Which team will you get?” in ad (a) added to the impression that there were a significant number of shirts available for purchase at £1. Ad (b) also included the phrase “£1 football shirts” which added to the impression that the shirts were available to purchase for £1.
We understood from the complainants that consumers were not able to purchase a mystery football shirt for £1, but rather that by paying £1 they would have the chance to win a football shirt
.Because we considered the ads gave the impression that consumers could purchase a football shirt for £1 and because we had not seen evidence that that was the case, we concluded that the ads were misleading.The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.17 (Prices).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told CrypticKits not to misleadingly imply that their football shirts could be purchased for £1 if that was not the case. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
