Tesco rapped over food adverts
August 22, 2008
Tesco has been slammed by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for adverts that used an “unfair” selection of goods to claim that a trolley of items at Tesco was significantly cheaper than Asda and Wm Morrison.
The ASA ruled that Tesco must no longer display the advertisements in their current form because some items used were on special promotion at the time.
There were two adverts in question. The first advert showed a trolley full of shopping and stated: “Asda £76.15, Tesco £49.59. Why pay more at Asda?” the disclaimer:”Includes Tesco products on promotion” was underneath.
The second advert claimed that there was a £25.52 difference with Morrisons and had the caption:”Save a trolley load of cash at Tesco”.
The ASA received two complaints about the adverts. The watchdog ruled that the adverts conveyed a false impression that Tesco was cheaper and they were likely to “mis-lead customers”.
The regulator said “Although we noted both ads clearly stated ‘Includes Tesco products on promotion’, we considered that that disclaimer did not go far enough to remove the implication given by the headline claims that Tesco was generally cheaper than either of their competitors. Nor did we consider that it explained adequately to consumers that the savings were representative of a comparison between promotional prices and everyday prices and could only be achieved for a limited time; they were therefore not representative of the savings consumers could generally expect from Tesco.”
The ASA added “Tesco explained that the ads were not: intended to represent a shopping basket survey; to demonstrate a typical and representative selection of consumer goods; or illustrate a comprehensive survey of prices. They said the ads made comparisons between a number of named products and, in their view, provided a snapshot of the savings that customers could make by buying clearly identified, specific products at Tesco rather than from their competitors.”
A spokeswoman at Tesco said “Tesco is committed to offering customers great value. We did state that the items were on promotion but we accept that this may not have been as clear as it could be; it does not, however, take away from the fact that we offer great prices. Following the ASA’s concerns, all new adverts are now taking a different format.”
Visit www.tesco.com for more information on the supermarket.
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