Choreographed half price sales
Advertising Standards Uphelds Misleading Pricing Complaint
28 May 2008A magazine ad, for Moben kitchens, stated "möben autumn sale ... every kitchen now 55% off ... plus up to extra 10% off all möben sale kitchens this week".
The complainant challenged whether the advertised discounts could be substantiated, because he believed the price list on which the discounts were made was not available to customers.
The ASA noted an ambiguous reference to "list price" was made in the barely legible small print of the ad. We noted Möben had provided evidence, in the form of customer invoices, which showed that a 55% discount had been applied to the list price of kitchen units and appliances. However, we noted they had been unable to provide evidence that the same units or appliances had ever been sold at the list prices.
We considered that Möben had not shown that their "list prices" were the prices at which the product was generally sold. We also considered that consumers would expect kitchens were ordinarily sold at the non-discounted price. We concluded that the advertised discount had not been substantiated and was likely to mislead.