Matalan censured by ASA over parking claims in Click & Collect advert
Matalan has been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint was received about claims made by the fashion retailer about parking in an advert for its click and collect service.
The TV ad featured a voice-over which stated, “Choose click and collect to get your order delivered free to your local store, so no need to wait at home all day……. Our stores are open seven days a week with plenty of parking.”
The ASA said a complainant challenged whether the claim made that Matalan’s stores had “plenty of parking” was misleading because they understood that some stores did not have parking spaces.
In response, Matalan said that the majority of its 217 stores did have dedicated car parks, however, a “small number” were located in shopping centres where customers used shared parking areas.
Never Miss a Retail Update!The advertising watchdog concluded that as the ad made particular reference to Matalan stores having “plenty of parking”, viewers would be likely to understand the claim meant that all Matalan stores had their own dedicated large on-site car parks, or shared large on-site car parks with other stores if they were situated in a retail park.
Although the ASA accepted that many Matalan stores did have parking facilities, it noted that there were some stores in town centres where there was no dedicated car parking on-site and in those instances customers had to use on-street parking or town centre car parks.
In its ruling the ASA ruled that the ad was misleading as viewers were likely to conclude that all Matalan stores had large on-site car parks.
Matalan has been told not to run the advert in its current form again.
