A number of pop-up adverts appearing on the sites and apps of retailers including Asda and Moonpig have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) as part of a crackdown on “misleading” cashback rewards.
Other adverts operated by Webloyalty that appeared on the website of Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Trainline were also found to breach guidelines about misleading advertising and the term “free”.
The ASA said the ads, which included statements such as “by tapping above you can join our partner programme for £18 a month and claim your reward”, were “ambiguous” because customers would think that by clicking ;continue’ they were finalising their transaction with the retailer.
The watchdog said the adverts also didn’t make it sufficiently clear that the pop-ups were coming from a third party.
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Each of the adverts offered cashback of around the £20 mark.
The pop up encouraged consumers to fill in a form to receive the rewards.
The advert contained three steps: “1. Complete the three easy steps”, “2. Make a new booking with Trainline within 90 days and claim your £20.87 on the Complete Savings website” and “3. We will credit £20.87 onto your card”
In its defence Webloyalty/Complete Savings said the adverts contained clear and upfront information that getting the reward was contingent upon joining a membership programme. It also said it had reference to the membership fee next to the ‘yes’ button.
However, the ASA considered that because of the preceding web pages which included the phrase “Transaction is now complete”, customers might be led to believe that the offer of cashback was a reward for making the recent purchase.
It also argued that phrasing such as “by clicking above you can join our third-party programme for £18 per month and claim your reward” implied that joining the partner programme was independent of claiming the advertised Welcome reward.
The regulator also held that the details about the membership scheme being £18 after the first free month were in small print and within a larger paragraph. Therefore it considered consumers would be unlikely to notice.
The other ads under question included in-app ads for Domino’s and Moonpig and a banner ad for Asda that included a similar process for cashback rewards.
The ASA banned the ads and ordered Webloyalty to make sure its offers were clearer for consumers. It also said the retailers in question must ensure that the adverts were seen as coming from a third-party scheme.
The move comes as part of wider work from the ASA on choice architecture.
The regulator recently banned adverts for health-focused brands Huel and Zoe for including misleading testimonials from Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett over fears it could misleadingly influence customers.
It also clamped down on adverts for Nike and Sky for using dark patterns techniques which misleadingly encourage consumers to spend money.
