A website ad for ferry crossing provider DFDS Seaways has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading consumers with an unclear discount offer.
The ad promoted an offer of a ‘Duty Free Day Trip – From £39 per car + 4 people’. Other text stated ‘Book by 31 October 2022. Travel by 15 December 2022’.
A member of the public who searched for trips between 26 and 30 October found that fares were in fact not available at the £39 price and soon contacted the ASA to challenge with the original claims were misleading.
DFDS Seaways responded by admitting that £39 fares were only available on Mondays and Tuesdays and apologised for the omission.
The advertising watchdog concluded that the ad made no reference to the £39 fare being restricted to Mondays and Tuesdays.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning
“Consumers would therefore have expected the £39 fare to have also been available on other days of the week,” the ad authority added.
“The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told DFDS Seaways Ltd to make clear in future advertising if “from” prices referred to certain days of the week only.”
The promotion breached Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) codes related to misleading advertising, ‘qualification’ and ‘prices’.
