ASA bans Victoria Plum TV advert

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has today banned a TV and YouTube advertisement by online bathroom retailer VictoriaPlum.com for being misleading.

According to the ASA, the TV ad which appeared in November 2017 “featured text which scored through £1,299 and show a ‘now’ price of £379”, with a voice-over stating: “And now at VictoriaPlum.com, you can save up to 70% off, including this contemporary Ellis bath, only £379.” The same ad also appeared on YouTube.

Watch the banned TV advert here.

Competitor Victorian Plumbing “believed the product was never sold at £1,299”, the ASA said, and challenged whether the savings claim was misleading and could be substantiated.

Read the full ASA ruling here.

VictoriaPlum.com provided pricing history to the ASA, which showed that the product price “fluctuated throughout the three-month period leading up to the sales event”. The bath was initially sold for £899 for 35 days, followed by £949 for a further 10 days and then £999 for 12 days before being priced at £1,299 on 26th October 2017.

“We noted that the “was” price of £1,299 had been in place for 27 continuous days prior to the ‘now’ price of £379. However, this was significantly lower than the period of time before which it had been priced at £1,299, where it had been priced at lower amounts over a total period of 57 days,” the ASA said.

The outcome stated “The ads must not appear again in its current form. We told Victoria Plum Ltd to ensure their future savings claim did not mislead and to ensure they substantiated savings against the usual selling price of their products.”

Source: Insight DIY Team

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