Ad description

A direct mailing, for a mail order catalogue, stated "Your customer file has been selected - you are entitled to the following awards: read this correspondence detailing how to redeem your awards ... £6.00 Discount Voucher ...". On the reverse it stated "Plus ... you are entitled to a Bonus Award! In addition to your £6.00 discount, we are also issuing you with a Bonus Award when you place an order! 100 customers will receive £50.00 so for your chance to receive a cash price you have been given 2 Payment Preference Labels. These can be found below ... we would like you to inform us whether you would wish to receive £50.00 via bank transfer or a personal cheque if you are one of the 100 lucky customers drawn ... Please confirm how you would like to receive your winning cash prize when you place your order, should you be drawn as a winner ...". An attached page stated In the top right-hand corner "DAMART SPECIAL PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION". Underneath, text in red stated "IMPORTANT Sample Winner's Letter Only This is a copy of the letter you will receive should you be drawn as one of 100 winners to receive £50 in our Prize Draw. You have not won at this time". Text in the main body of the letter stated "CERTIFIED WINNER Congratulations [recipient's name] You have won £50! It's absolutely true! You are one of 100 lucky customers to win a £50 cash prize! As a new customer, I believe you fully deserve to win! Thank you for returning your Payment Preference label, we'll pay you the £50 in the way that you required ... [Recipient's name], your £50 winnings is on its way to you ...". Red text at the bottom of the page stated "PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A SAMPLE LETTER, YOU HAVE NOT WON AT THIS TIME PLEASE READ ALL DOCUMENTS IN THIS PACK". Pale red watermark text printed behind the mian body of the letter stated "SAMPLE LETTER".

Issue

A recipient challenged whether the mailing misleading implied that she had won £50.

Response

Damart said the mailing covering letter explained that the recipient could enter a prize draw to win £50 and stated "if you are one of the lucky 100 customers drawn" and "should you be drawn as a winner", which they believed made clear that the recipient was not yet a winner.

Damart said the purpose of including the sample winner's letter was to show that their prize draws were genuine and that they had already prepared a letter to send out. They said they were careful to highlight that the recipient had not yet won by including two prominent messages in large red text in red boxes and the words "SAMPLE LETTER" watermarked behind the main body text of the letter. Damart said they took in to account eye tracking research in the design of the letter and placed the largest of the 'sample letter only' messages in the top right-hand corner, which they understood was an area proven to be viewed near the beginning of a customer's first scan read.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the 'Sample winner's letter' was only one of a number of documents in the mailing and the front page of the main letter referenced a £6 discount voucher rather than the £50 prize draw and did not suggest that the recipient had won. We also acknowledged that the sample winner's letter had large red text in the top right-hand corner and at the bottom of the page stating the document was a sample letter.

However, we considered that the other claims on the page, "Congratulations [recipient's name] You have won £50!", "[recipient's name] your £50 winnings is on its way to you!", "Enjoy spending your cash prize [recipient's name]", "SPECIAL PRIZE DRAW NOTIFICATION" and "Payments will be made to the name on your Damart Customer Account", contradicted the sample letter messages and were likely to be understood by the recipient to mean that they had won the prize. We considered that the claims "Sample Winner's Letter Only", "YOU HAVE NOT WON AT THIS TIME" and "This is a copy of the letter you will receive should you be drawn as one of the 100 winners" were not sufficient to remove the overall initial impression that the recipient was a winner. Although on closer inspection, consumers were likely to understand that they had not as yet won, we considered that that was not the initial impression given and the mailing was therefore misleading.

The mailing breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising),  8.2 8.2 Promoters must conduct their promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly and honourably with participants and potential participants. Promoters must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment.  (Sales promotions) and  8.19 8.19 Promoters must not claim that consumers have won a prize if they have not. The distinction between prizes and gifts, or equivalent benefits, must always be clear. Ordinarily, consumers may expect an item offered to a significant proportion of participants to be described as a ‘gift’, while an item offered to a small minority may be more likely to be described as a ‘prize’. If a promotion offers a gift to a significant proportion and a prize to a minority, special care is needed to avoid confusing the two: the promotion must, for example, state clearly that consumers “qualify” for the gift but have merely an opportunity to win the prize. If a promotion includes, in a list of prizes, a gift for which consumers have qualified, the promoter must distinguish clearly between the two.  (Prize promotions).

Action

The mailing must not appear again in its current form.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     8.19     8.2    


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