Proximity of logos to marketing claim helps price comparison site comply with CAP Code

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the claim, made on mysupermarket.co.uk, was not misleading, despite the watchdog having received a complaint that argued otherwise.

MySupermarket Limited, the company behind the price comparison website, had displayed logos for Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado in sufficient proximity to the claim and with sufficient prominence so as to avoid falling foul of breaching rules set out in the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code).

"Although the claim was not immediately followed by the logos, the two did appear close together on the page and the logos attracted attention by dint of their size and colour," the ASA said in its adjudication. "We considered that, given the visibility of the logos, the average consumer would be likely to understand that the website allowed customers to compare store prices only in those stores."

"We also noted that the claim 'get the best possible deal for your groceries' was presented as a consequence of consumers being able to 'compare store prices as you shop'. In our view, that wording clearly envisaged consumers using the website to buy their shopping directly through the site, and therefore from one of the stores listed. We considered that most consumers would understand that 'the best possible deal' referred to a comparison only of the prices listed on the site, and would realise that that comparison would exclude those stores which were not listed," it said.

"Because we were satisfied that the average consumer would not interpret the claim 'the best possible deal', in combination with the claim 'compare store prices as you shop' and the five featured supermarket logos, to mean that a comparison between every grocery store was available through mySupermarket, and because we considered that it was clear which stores the comparison would relate to, we concluded that the claim was not misleading," the watchdog ruled.

The ASA had assessed whether mySupermarket had complied with four separate rules under the CAP Code, but found no breach of any of them.

Under the CAP Code marketing communications that are materially misleading or likely to mislead are prohibited. The Code also bans marketing communications that mislead consumers "by omitting material information ... by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner".

'Material information' is defined under the Code as "information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product." The context and the medium and how advertisers make material information available to consumers through "other means" in cases where the time or space puts constraints on the medium, help determine whether missing material information or the way it is presented is "likely to mislead the consumer".

The Code also prohibits claims being made in promotions that "mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product". Advertisers must also clearly state any significant qualifications to claims they make in ads.