Can a promotion be challenged or reported to the ASA?
If a member of the public or a company believes a promotion is unfair or has not been conducted properly they can report it to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). This is the organisation that regulates promotions in the UK.
If the ASA investigates a complaint about a promotion, the promoter’s reputation is put at risk. If the complaint is upheld and the promoter doesn’t follow the ASA’s instructions and, for example, runs another unfair promotion, the ASA can apply various sanctions.
To avoid a promotion being challenged for being unjust or poorly administered, the promotion must comply with the CAP Code, which is the set of rules governing direct and promotional marketing in the UK.
Who can challenge a promotion?
If a member of the public believes a prize promotion has been unfairly run, they can make a complaint to the ASA using its online form. They must provide details of the prize promotion, including where it appeared and, ideally, a photograph, screenshot or video. They will also need to explain what they consider was wrong with the prize promotion. For example, they might think the promoter didn’t follow its own terms and conditions properly. The ASA doesn’t accept complaints via email.
A business can also complain to the ASA about a prize promotion. However, if they are complaining about a competitor’s prize promotion, they must first try to resolve the complaint directly. This is covered by the ASA’s guide to inter-party resolutions and competitor complaints.
What happens when a promotion is reported to the ASA?
The ASA assesses, but does not investigate, each complaint it receives. Every Wednesday it publishes its rulings on the cases it has investigated. It does not always uphold complaints. For example, a complaint about a Bubbleology social media prize promotion was not upheld.
However, if it finds that a prize promotion has broken the CAP Code, the ASA’s rules for direct and promotional marketing, it reprimands the company or brand and sets out must be done to address the issue. For example, a complaint about a Space.NK competition to win a beauty advent calendar was upheld. The ASA decided that the promotion was not administered fairly and that some of the ‘significant conditions’ of the promotion were not made clear to entrants. Space.NK was told not to repeat the errors.
If a promoter repeatedly fails to comply with the CAP Code, there is a range of sanctions that the ASA can impose. For example, it can:
- Put the offender on the public list of companies that refuse to abide by the CAP Code
- Use its own paid-search ads to highlight the company’s non-compliance
- Have the company’s non-compliant content and paid-search ads removed by social media companies and search engines
How do you avoid a promotion being reported to the ASA?
Section 8 of the CAP Code focuses on promotional marketing, including prize promotions, prize draws, instant-wins and competitions. Essentially, all a promoter has to do to prevent their prize promotion being reported to the ASA is to comply with it. If they run their promotion fairly and honestly, entrants will have no grounds – and no need – to complain.
However, interpreting the CAP Code can be quite tricky, so the ASA has plenty of online resources available, as well as a copy advice service, which offers a free pre-publication review for wording, imagery and concepts. Specialist prize promotions agencies can also provide expertise on implementing the CAP Code.
What are the key points about challenging or reporting promotions to the ASA?
- Members of the public can challenge or report a prize promotion to the ASA, but if the complaint is about a competitor company an attempt must first be made to resolve it directly.
- To avoid being reported to the ASA, promotions must comply with the ASA’s CAP Code for non-broadcast advertising.
- If a complaint is upheld, but a promoter does not respond to the ASA’s instructions for rectifying the problem or is a persistent offender, the ASA can deploy a range of sanctions if a complaint is upheld.
