Ad description
A post seen on the personal trainer DT Fitness’s Instagram page, @dtfitness_31, on 8 July 2022, for a prize promotion. Text stated “HERES WHAT YOU CAN WIN [partying face emoji] … APPLE WATCH SERIES 7 … APPLE EAR PODS NEW … 4 PINEAPPLE MONSTERS … 5 FREE PTS SESSIONS … £50 CASH … 2 MONTHS ONLINE COACHING”.
Further text stated “To enter all you have to do is: 1 Follow me … 2 Like this post … 3 Share this post on your Story and Tag Me … 4 Tag 3 friends below … Winners will be announced on 15 July at Midday!!...”.
Issue
The complainant, who was picked as one of the winners but then did not receive a prize, challenged whether the promotion had been conducted fairly.
Response
DT Fitness said that they had not awarded the prize to the complainant because they were concerned about the legitimacy of the Instagram account in question, and whether or not it was an authentic account. They said that at the time the prize draw had been active, the Instagram account for DT Fitness had been duplicated by another Instagram user, who then ran their own promotion with the same prizes on offer. They said that the duplicate account had then added the followers of the genuine DT Fitness account, and asked people to make a payment to receive the prizes. DT Fitness provided screenshots of the account in question in support of those claims.
DT Fitness said that due to their concerns about the duplicate account, they were suspicious of the complainant’s Instagram account, and concluded that they were the same person who had set up the duplicate account, attempting to win a prize. Due to those concerns, they chose not to award the prize to the complainant.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that promoters must conduct their promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly and honourably with participants and potential participants. It also stated that promoters must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment and should not give consumers justifiable grounds for complaint. In addition, the Code stated that withholding prizes was justified only if participants had not met the qualifying criteria set out clearly in the rules of the promotion.
The ASA understood that in order to enter the promotion, participants were required to follow the DT Fitness Instagram account, like the post announcing the promotion, share the post via their own Instagram account and tag the DT Fitness account in that post, and tag three friends’ Instagram accounts in the comments of the original post.
We acknowledged that DT Fitness believed a fake Instagram account had been created, copying their own account, and noted a series of screenshots that DT Fitness provided which they believed showed that account. We also noted screenshots of apparent winners of the promotion’s prizes supplied by DT Fitness.However, DT Fitness had not provided any evidence which demonstrated that the complainant’s Instagram account had any links to the apparent fake account. We also saw no evidence which accounted for how the creation of such a fake Instagram account could influence or impact on the selection of a winner of the promotion by DT Fitness. We consequently considered that DT Fitness had not demonstrated that there was a justifiable reason for withholding one of the prizes from the complainant. We therefore concluded that the promotion had not been administered fairly, and was in breach of the Code.
The promotion 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),
8.14
8.14
Promoters must ensure that their promotions are conducted under proper supervision and make adequate resources available to administer them. Promoters, agencies and intermediaries should not give consumers justifiable grounds for complaint.
8.15
8.15
Promoters must allow adequate time for each phase of the promotion: notifying the trade; distributing the goods; issuing rules if relevant; collecting wrappers and the like and judging and announcing results.
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
8.27
8.27
Withholding prizes (see rules
8.15
8.15
Promoters must allow adequate time for each phase of the promotion: notifying the trade; distributing the goods; issuing rules if relevant; collecting wrappers and the like and judging and announcing results.
1 and
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.
.2) is justified only if participants have not met the qualifying criteria set out clearly in the rules of the promotion.
(Prize promotions).
Action
We told DT Fitness to ensure that they awarded prizes as described in their marketing communications, and not to withhold prizes without a justified reason.
