ASA: Advice on Black Friday Promotions

The ASA has published a helpful article on making sure your Black Friday promotions won't fall foul of the CAP Code:

Some might argue that it’s the biggest shopping event of the year, and given the excitement surrounding Black Friday, marketers need to ensure that their ads are clear and transparent about what’s on offer. So, to avoid getting lost in the hustle and bustle, here’s some light reading to help you find your way back to the CAP Code.

Savings

Advertisers wanting to make savings claims should ensure these claims are genuine and hold evidence demonstrating that consumers would be able to achieve a meaningful saving. The ASA concluded that a Black Friday travel promotion broke the CAP Code when the advertiser wasn’t able to evidence that the savings claimed could be achieved. As such, their “20% off” claim was deemed misleading.

Price comparisons

As well as savings claims, marketers need to make sure price comparisons are accurate and hold evidence to substantiate the usual selling price of their products. The ASA upheld against an ad earlier this year, when the advertiser made errors with the presentation of their before and after prices. To avoid breaching Rule 3.17 of the CAP Code, marketers should ensure price comparisons can be backed up, for example with historical pricing records.

Conditions and exclusions

If conditions and exclusions apply this should be clearly outlined in the ad. T&C’s should also reference which products they refer to. The ASA considered this previously when they decided a Black Friday email ad had broken the Ad Rules, as sufficient information relating to the exclusions was not included in the marketing communication.

Availability

Promoters should also ensure they make a reasonable estimate of the expected demand for their Black Friday promotions. One way of doing this could be by assessing the response to a previous promotion for similar products.

As a marketer, you also have additional responsibilities if you’re unable to commit to the demand of your promotional offer. The ASA looked at this issue recently, when they investigated and upheld an ad for breaking the CAP Code concerning the promotional marketing rules on availability. The advertiser was unable to demonstrate that they had made timely communication with consumers, once they realised they were unable to keep up with the supply and demand of their Black Friday promotion.

For more, see our previous Black Friday articles here and here.  And if you’d like some free, bespoke advice on your Black Friday promotional marketing, the CAP Copy Advice team would be happy to help.

See the original article here.

Source : ASA 

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