ASA Adjudication on T.M. Lewin & Sons Ltd
T.M. Lewin & Sons Ltd
6-7 St Cross Street Courtyard
London
EC1N 8UA
Date:
1 February 2012
Media:
Internet (on own site)
Sector:
Retail
Number of complaints:
2
Complaint Ref:
A11-178285
Background
Ad
A website for a clothing retailer, viewed on 15 November 2011, stated "Men's and Women's Shirts and Ties now from 5 for £100... Select any combination of 5 or more".
Issue
Two complainants challenged whether the offer "from 5 for £100... Select any combination of 5 or more" was misleading.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
T.M. Lewin & Sons Ltd (TM Lewin) did not agree the offer was misleading. They said the offer was part of a range of multi-buy offers they promoted, which were designed to enable customers to get a "bulk discount" when they bought a certain number of products. They explained that their shirts were sold at a range of different prices depending on qualities and styles. When customers purchased over five shirts the price would reduce to £20, £25 or £30 depending on the shirt selected. Therefore a customer selecting five of the shirts that reduced to £20 would be able to buy five shirts for £100, but other customers may pay more if they selected the shirts that were reduced to £25 or £30. They said customers were able to select a mix of differently priced shirts as part of the "from 5 for £100" offer. They said they used the words "from 5 for £100" to communicate the basic offer, and to communicate the freedom to choose across the price range had added "Select any combination of 5 or more". They said the price of each individual shirt when part of the offer was clearly marked on the website.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted TM Lewin believed the claim "from 5 for £100... Select any combination of 5 or more" accurately communicated the offer to consumers. We also noted that, when viewing the prices of individual shirts, the website stated whether they would be reduced to £20, £25 or £30. However, we considered that the wording of the offer was confusing and unclear because it would not be clear to consumers what was meant by "from 5 for £100" as this could be interpreted to mean that more than five shirts could be purchased for £100. We also considered that it would not be clear to consumers what was meant by "Select any combination of 5 or more", as this could be interpreted to mean that any combination of shirts could be purchased for £100 under the offer. We concluded that the promotion was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 3.17 (Prices) and 8.2 (Sales promotions).
Action
The offer must not appear again in its current form.
Making a complaint
Find out what types of ads we deal with and how to make a complaint.
How to complain
Adjudications
View our latest weekly ASA adjudications or search for rulings from the last five years.
Adjudications
Sign up
Sign up for adjudications alerts and newsletters.
Sign up
Already registered? Log in
Follow Us
For ASA news, including our weekly rulings, press releases, research and reports.
Dealing with complaints - FAQs
We work hard to ensure our complaints procedures are transparent. Here we answer some commonly asked questions about how we handle complaints.
Dealing with complaints - FAQs