This article provides a selection of the most interesting ASA
adjudications from June and a summary of the key issues considered
in those adjudications. Daily deal offers continue to provide
grounds for numerous consumer complaints. This month presents
several adjudications relating to kgbdeals.com, following four last
month. Complaints centred on the advertiser's inability to
substantiate that "before" prices and the associated
savings claims were genuine.
In 2011 61% of the complaints received by the ASA related to
misleading advertising. The CAP has this month issued guidance on
how to avoid misleading advertising, which includes an overview of
how the ASA judges whether an advert may mislead consumers and
a checklist of common pitfalls to avoid.
This month also saw the first complaint upheld against a
Twitter-based advertising campaign. The CAP published an article on
this decision, highlighting that adverts must not be just
potentially identifiable as advertising, but obviously identifiable
as advertising. Various ways of identifying advertisements were
noted, such as using the Twitter hashtags "#ad" or
"#spon". Advertisers may also develop their own symbols
of identification, but the users of the relevant service must
understand what their symbols stand for. Advertisers would need to
take steps to inform audiences about their symbol to the extent
that it becomes 'well-established in consumers'
minds'.
Finally, as of June 14 2012, the EU Register of nutrition and
health claims made on foods has been extended to include a
significant number of new claims. This will affect any advertiser
making a health claim about food in a marketing communication, as
demonstrated in the adjudication relating to Nature's Best
Health Products Ltd below. The change will impact how the ASA
investigates such complaints going forward, but will not affect the
ASA's general approach to nutrition claims.
Click here to view the snapshot in full.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 27/07/2012.