Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Jean-Patrique Cookware has once again fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority, this time for two promotional emails for electronic salt and pepper mills.
The ads – one sent on March 3 2011 and the second on March 22 – were subject to four separate challenges. All were upheld by the ASA, which has repeatedly admonished Jean-Patrique for its misleading ads.
In the latest case, one of the emails stated that the electronic salt and pepper mills were being sold at only £1.99 against an RRP of £49.99, and that the saving was £48 per pair. The ASA said the impression given was that the price was for the pair of mills, whereas purchasers actually had to spend another £4.99 to get the second mill.
The authority also noted that the first ad made no reference to delivery charges, which were only stated in the second ad.
It was also misleading, decided the ASA, to say that purchasers would receive a “free” can opener, because consumers in fact had to pay for the additional postage and packaging charges.
Finally, the ad watchdog said it had seen no evidence that the stated RRPs reflected the prices at which the products were generally sold, and therefore considered that the prices and stated savings were not genuine.
The ASA told Jean-Patrique that the ads must not appear again in their current form, and to ensure that future ads did not include misleading price claims but did state delivery costs.
It also told the company not to describe items as “free” if consumers had to pay packing, handling or administration charges for the product and to ensure that savings claims reflected the price at which the product was generally sold.
