All significant conditions to sales promotions must generally be displayed up front, ad body says

CAP said that businesses risk being found in breach of the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code), the rules which CAP is responsible for writing, if they do not make it clear to consumers first reading promotional material what significant conditions apply.

However in circumstances where advertising space is limited, such as on Twitter, businesses are only required to give as many details about significant conditions for their promotions that they can practically include, as long as they provide a link through to information about any other significant conditions that were not detailed up front, CAP said.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for monitoring compliance with the CAP Code.

"Failing to provide significant information at the crucial point is likely to cause unnecessary disappointment and it’s worth remembering that sales promotions that result in a consumer having cause to complain and the ASA upholding the complaint not only breaches the CAP Code but undermines one of the very reasons to run a sales promotion: spreading positive awareness of a brand or product," CAP said in new guidance. 

"Consumers should be able to make the decision as to whether they want and are eligible to participate from the initial advertising copy. Significant conditions are those which are expected to be set out in the initial advertising material," it said.

Examples of what constitutes 'significant conditions' in sales promotions are detailed in the CAP Code. The Code requires, among other things, that companies outline how consumers can participate in the promotions, that consumers are given information about start or closing dates where these apply and that, generally, they are informed of the number of prizes that are on offer.

Among the other significant conditions businesses would be required to detail are any geographic, age or technological restrictions that reduce the scope of the promotion, according to the CAP Code.

CAP has warned advertisers that the list of significant conditions in its Code is not "exhaustive" and said that those running sales promotions should "take to care to consider whether there are any other major factors reasonably likely to influence a consumer’s decision or understanding about the promotion".

"Which of the listed conditions an individual promoter will need to include depends on the circumstances of their promotion," CAP said. "For example, the start date is only going to be necessary if advertisements for the promotion run prior to the promotion period. If a promotion is not open to everyone, this fact should be made clear to people who may read the ad. Some conditions, such as any intention to use winners in post-event publicity, do not need to be in the initial ad but should be stated before, or at the time of entry."

CAP said that promoters constrained by time or space can legitimately exclude some significant conditions from initial marketing material in some circumstances.

"If the initial ad is severely restricted by time or space it must include as much information about significant conditions as practicable," CAP said. "In such online marketing communications it may be considered sufficient to have conditions of entry one click away from the display, banner or tweet ad."

"In traditional media there may be circumstances where limited space available precludes it from being an appropriate medium to advertise a complicated competition. In these circumstances advertisers might like to consider more general trailer copy such as ‘go to our website for all our prize draws and special offers’," it added.

Small businesses that make misleading claims in adverts they post on the internet will be subject to increased scrutiny by the ASA next year. The watchdog's chief executive Guy Parker said that search engines could be asked to help reduce the number of misleading ads, according to a report by the Telegraph.

"We have got good plans next year for better targeting small businesses and sole traders," Parker said, according to the Telegraph. "We might work with search engines on this, we don’t know yet. We have had initial discussions with them. Many of these companies use Google ads words or other [organisations] to try and drive traffic to their websites. So there is a kind of pinch point there so that might be a good point at which we can market to them and say ‘here we are, don’t forget about us, there are things you do need to know."