ASA concludes that Asda Price Guarantee ad was not misleading
The Advertising Standards Authority has concluded that Asda’s Price Guaranteed advert was not misleading after considering a complaint about the ad from Tesco.
Tesco complained about a national press advert that stated “Asda Price Guarantee we mean it! 10% cheaper or we’ll give you the difference. Guaranteed.”
The small print at the bottom of the ad stated: “Asda price guarantee includes comparable grocery shopping only. Comparison made against Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons only”.
Tesco challenged whether the claim “10% cheaper or we’ll give you the difference. Guaranteed” was misleading, because it believed it implied Asda was always 10% cheaper than the named competitors.
Asda responded by saying that it did not believe the claim “10% cheaper or we’ll give you the difference. Guaranteed” was a “lowest price claim”. It said the ad did not imply that Asda guaranteed to be 10% cheaper, but that it guaranteed to give customers the difference on comparable grocery shopping if they were not 10% cheaper. They said the inclusion of “guaranteed” in this context clarified rather than contradicted the meaning of the price promise.
Following its investigation, the ASA concluded that no further action was necessary and said: “We considered consumers would understand “Guaranteed” in this context to mean Asda guaranteed to refund the difference if they were not 10% cheaper.
The ASA said: “We did not consider “Guaranteed” implied prices at Asda were guaranteed to be 10% cheaper all the time. We therefore concluded the ad was not misleading.”
