Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Bakkavor Foods Ltd t/a The Pizza Company
Where: United Kingdom
When: 29 April 2026
Law stated as at: 18 May 2026
What happened
The product packaging for Cookie Dough Dessert by The Pizza Company, seen in February, featured a prize promotion on its front. Bold gold text stated “PLAY & WIN”, accompanied by the statements “£100K OF PRIZES” and “PICK UP A PIZZA PACK TO PLAY & WIN”. On the side of the packaging, a QR code appeared alongside the instruction “SCAN HERE TO PLAY & WIN”, with further small-print text directing consumers to the full terms and conditions online.
A consumer purchased the Cookie Dough Dessert, believing it was eligible for the promotion, only to discover afterwards that it was not. The complainant therefore challenged whether the packaging was misleading.
The Pizza Company said that the promotion was limited to pizza products, and that this was communicated in several ways. It pointed to the repeated use of the phrase “PICK UP A PIZZA PACK TO PLAY & WIN” and the side-panel text stating “Restrictions and exclusions apply” and “Promotional pizza purchase necessary”, with the online terms and conditions listing only pizza products as eligible and showing that the Cookie Dough Dessert was not included. It also said that the Cookie Dough Dessert was clearly labelled as a “SIDE” and “TAKEAWAY SIDE”, distinguishing it from pizza products. The company also argued that the packaging contained no language, such as “participating pack” or “entry with this product”, that suggested that the Cookie Dough Dessert was eligible. It maintained that the promotion panel, headed “PLAY & WIN”, was visually separate from the product’s own labelling, functioning as brand-level creative rather than a product-specific eligibility indicator.
The ASA upheld the complaint. It found that the prominent, bold gold text on the front of the packaging, combined with the QR code and “SCAN HERE TO PLAY & WIN” instruction on the side, would lead a reasonable consumer to conclude that the Cookie Dough Dessert was eligible for the promotion. While the ASA acknowledged the absence of any text expressly stating that the Cookie Dough Dessert was eligible, as well as the qualifying language present on the packaging, it considered this text to be insufficiently prominent to override the dominant impression created by the promotional messaging. The ASA also noted an additional source of ambiguity: the word “PIZZA” appeared both in the company’s name and in large text near the promotional claims. This meant that some consumers may have interpreted references to “pizza” as describing the product in hand.
The ASA concluded that the ad was misleading. It also considered that, as a result, the promotion was likely to have caused unnecessary disappointment to consumers who purchased the pack only to discover afterwards that it was not eligible.
Why this matters
This ruling is a reminder that promotional messaging on packaging must make eligibility conditions clear and prominent, particularly where a promotion spans a broad product range. Where promotional branding is applied across multiple products, consumers may assume that all featured products qualify unless expressly told otherwise. Marketers should therefore ensure that any exclusions are communicated prominently on the packaging itself, rather than relying on qualifying text that may be overlooked or on terms and conditions available only online. A failure to do so risks both ASA enforcement action and unnecessary consumer disappointment.
