The UK’s advertising watchdog has ruled a Tesco advert comparing prices with Asda misled consumers.
In an advert published and broadcast in March for Tesco’s Price Check campaign, the UK’s largest retailer said it would “refund double the difference” with a voucher to shop at its stores if consumers found their comparable grocery shopping cheaper at Asda.
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However, the ads did not state that, on 24 March, Tesco had been forced to put a GBP20 (US$31.21) cap on the value of the vouchers after online forums showed shoppers how to take advantage of the offer through buying certain baskets.
Tesco had introduced the limit in its terms and conditions online to prevent consumers “tactically shopping”, the Advertising Standards Authority. However, in a ruling today (16 November), the ASA said Tesco’s decision not to include the limit in the ads themselves meant shoppers had been misled.
The ASA said Tesco had pointed to a drop in the number of Price Check requests on the day the limit was introduced. However, the watchdog said the requests increased again soon after.
“We considered that the GBP20 limit was a significant restriction likely to affect the average consumer’s decision to shop at Tesco during the promotional period,” the ASA said.
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By GlobalData“Because the restriction was not included in [the TV and leaflet] ads, we concluded that they were misleading. Because the restriction was only found in the fair-use policy for [the online] ad, we concluded that the terms and conditions contradicted rather than clarified the headline claim and therefore that ad was also misleading.”
Tesco scrapped the double the difference element of the campaign at the end of April.
In September, Tesco launched its Big Price Drop campaign in a revamp of its promotional strategy, which it said would offer consumers “clear and reliable savings”.
