Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and American Golf (Trading) Ltd t/a Onlinegolf
Where: United Kingdom
When: 10 August 2022
Law stated as at: 31 August 2022
What happened:
The website www.americangolf.co.uk, an online retailer of golf accessories (trading as Onlinegolf) advertised a wearable golf shot tracking device (the Arccos Caddie Link) for £119.99, advertising that the device “automatically records shot data” on a phone.
After purchasing the device, the complainant found out that, after an initial free trial, a yearly subscription was needed to access the information. The complainant subsequently submitted a challenge to assess whether the ad was misleading, given it omitted to mention a yearly subscription was necessary to continue to access the data. While American Golf was willing to make changes to their website, the subsequent changes made no mention of the need to pay a subscription to access the data provided by the device.
The complaint was upheld and the ASA found that the ad breached UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing rules 3.1 and 3.3 on misleading advertising.
In particular, the ASA considered consumers would understand the ad to mean that, having purchased the device, they could use it to track their score during play. However, while there was an initial free trial, after the trial ended the customer needed to pay a yearly subscription to access the information.
Therefore, given the need to pay a subscription was likely to influence a consumer’s decision to purchase the device, the ASA concluded that the ad was misleading and that it must not appear again in its current form.
Why this matters:
As the different types of consumer subscriptions continue to rise, this ruling is an important reminder of the need for businesses to clearly set out key details about the subscription, including but not limited to the requirement to subscribe, free trial periods and any other requirements to subscribe (e.g., providing card payment details). This follows the general rule that ads must not mislead (whether intentionally or otherwise) through omitting significant information that consumers are likely to need before making a decision to purchase.
Details of the ASA’s most recent guidance on subscriptions is available here.
