Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Ten Percent Music Elite Group Ltd t/a TPM the Label (TPM)
Where: United Kingdom
When: 15 June 2022
Law stated as at: 6 July 2022
What happened:
The ASA has ruled that an Instagram prize promotion posted by TPM was in breach of the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) as “it had not been administered fairly“.
The promotion featured a video with a voice-over describing a prize draw to win 15 sets of two tickets to travel anywhere in the world – with the small text noting that each winner will have £2,000 allocated to them. In order to enter the promotion, entrants were required to: tag two friends, comment on the post explaining why they wanted to win, follow TPM on Instagram and like and share the TPM’s latest post.
After winning the promotion but not receiving the described prize, a complainant decided to challenge whether TPM’s promotion had breached the code. CAP Code 8.15.1 establishes that a prize must be awarded as described in their marketing communications or reasonable equivalents, normally within 30 days. The complainant was informed that they won the prize on 15 January 2021; however, even after contacting TPM several times, they did not receive any meaningful response.
The ASA were disappointed in TPM’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the code, which constituted a breach of CAP Code 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). The ASA received no information as to how the promotions had been administered nor evidence that any of the winners had been awarded their prizes.
The ASA concluded that TPM’s promotion had not been administered fairly and was in breach of the code. TPM were instructed to award the prizes as described in their marketing communication, and to ensure that they continue to do so in the future. This matter was also referred to CAP’s compliance team.
Why this matters:
CAP Code 8.15.1 provides that those administering prize promotions must ensure that they award the prizes as advertised within their marketing communications, and within a time frame of 30 days. This ruling further highlights the need to comply with this rule, and shows the importance of responding and engaging with the ASA once there have been complaints of non-compliance.
