Ad description
A label wound around the neck of bottles of Campaneo Wines, seen on 24 November 2023, advertised a promotion to win one of five pizza ovens. Large text on both ends of the label stated “WIN 1 of 5 OONI PIZZA OVENS”. Text in between stated “ENTER TO WIN SO YOU CAN CREATE IRRESISTIBLE PIZZAS AT HOME TO ENJOY WITH A GLASS OF CAMPANEO WINE. ENTER ON OUR WEBSITE - FOLLOW THE LINK OR QR CODE. CAMPANEOWINES.CO.UK/COMPETITION – SEE OUR FULL T&Cs ON OUR WEBSITE”. An additional flap featured a QR code.
Issue
The complainant, who believed the ad omitted significant conditions and information about how to participate, challenged whether the promotion breached the Code.
Response
Kingsland Drinks Ltd (Kingsland) said there was limited space on the neck labels but that they stated where purchasers could enter the competition and where the full terms and conditions could be found. They believed the QR code and website address were sufficiently clearly shown on the label and made it easy to navigate to a web page about the promotion, and a further page where the terms and conditions were set out. They said the terms and conditions stated that entrants needed to hold evidence of purchase, but that there were no other significant entry restrictions.
Kingsland said the promotion did not have a specific closing date but believed that did not disadvantage consumers. They said the end date was subject to all promotional packs selling through. That was explained in the terms and conditions, and they believed it was in line with the CAP Code.Kingsland said they had produced one production run of the promotional bottles (5,334 cases) which they had initially estimated would take three to four months to sell through. They had subsequently revised their estimate to five to six months because of the slower speed at which the stock was selling.
The promotional bottles were sold through one specific supermarket only (in-store and online) and Kingsland were able to track sales through data received from that supermarket. They would draw the winners 14 days after the date on which the final promotional bottle was sold. If the supermarket stopped selling the product before all the promotional bottles were sold, Kingsland would still draw the five winners from those who had already entered the draw.
Kingsland said they would be willing to make changes to the terms and conditions to bring the ad into line with the Code.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that all marketing communications which referred to promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such conditions or information was likely to mislead. Significant conditions or information may, depending on the circumstances, include information about how to participate and a closing date.
The ASA understood that Kingsland would know through their tracking system that the final bottle had been sold and that the draw could then take place.The mechanics of the promotion meant that potential participants needed to enter within 14 days of the final bottle being purchased to ensure that their entry was included when the draw took place.
However, potential participants had no way of knowing how many promotional bottles were still left to sell. With wine being a non-perishable product, bottles could be on shelves for months. All purchasers would therefore need to enter the promotion within 14 days of purchase to ensure they could participate.
We therefore considered that information about the circumstances in which the draw would be undertaken was significant information about how to participate, which should have been communicated in the ad. That included that to have a chance of winning, purchasers must enter the promotion within 14 days of purchase, because the draw would take place 14 days after the last bottle of the 5,334 promotional cases had been sold, and that participants needed to be able to show proof of purchase. We further considered there was sufficient space on the label to have included such information.
We considered that because the ad omitted significant conditions and information that were likely to influence a consumer’s decision or understanding about the promotion and the omission of that information was likely to mislead, the promotion therefore breached the Code.
The promotion breached CAP Code (Edition 12) 8.17, 8.17.1, 8.17.4.a, and 8.18 (Promotional marketing).
Action
The promotion must not be run again in the form complained of. We told Kingsland Drinks Ltd to ensure that their future ads for promotions included all significant conditions and information about the promotions, including how to participate, where their omission was likely to mislead.
