Ad description
An email from Lenovo Technology, seen on 28 September 2023, featured text which stated “You're in the know. Insiders get first access to email exclusive deals, product releases, and Lenovo news. Get 10% off any product”. A coupon code and a link to the advertiser’s website were both below the text.
At the bottom of the email, small print stated “See the website for eCoupon terms and conditions. eCoupon does not apply to certain products and is non-stackable”.
Issue
The complainant, who had a background in consumer journalism and who understood that some products were excluded from the promotion, challenged whether the claim “Get 10% off any product” was misleading.
Response
Lenovo Technology (UK) Ltd acknowledged the complaint, but did not provide a substantive response to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Lenovo Technology (UK) Ltd’s lack of substantive 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 provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We considered that consumers would interpret the claim “Get 10% off any product”, to mean that all products on the Lenovo Technology website were included in the promotion and would therefore be discounted by 10% by entering a coupon code.
We acknowledged small print at the bottom of the ad stated “eCoupon does not apply to certain products and is non-stackable”. That information, however, was presented in relatively small text at the very bottom of the ad and had not been linked to the “Get 10% off any product” claim by way of an asterisk. Notwithstanding that, we considered that even if some consumers had seen the qualification, it was not sufficient to counter the overriding impression of the ad that all products would be discounted by 10%.
Because consumers were likely to interpret the claim “Get 10% off any product” to mean all products were discounted by 10% when in fact certain ones were excluded, we concluded that the claim was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Lenovo Technology (UK) Ltd not to state or imply that all products were included in an offer if some products were excluded. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
