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A publisher has been reprimanded for an advertisement which wrongly implied that purchasers of a cookbook would get another book as a free gift.
The national press ad for The Nostalgic Cook Book, published by Blakefield trading as Windsor Products, promised that it would come with “three free bonus gifts”.
Under the heading “Free gift 2” text stated: “‘Old Fashioned Cleaning Tips’ – My granny was a proud woman and would pride herself on having a clean kitchen and a gleaming parlour – some of her best cleaning tips are included in this book …”
However, the Advertising Standards Authority agreed with a complainant that the ad was misleading. The ASA thought that consumers were likely to think they would receive a free book called Old Fashioned Cleaning Tips in addition to the cookbook, whereas the cleaning tips were, in fact, contained in a few pages in the back of The Nostalgic Cook Book.
The ASA said that the ad should not appear again in its current form, and told Windsor Products to ensure that future ads did not imply consumers would receive an additional item if that was not the case.
