Tesco has had two of its commercials banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for implying its products are cheaper than rivals Asda and Morrisons .
The ASA received two complaints regarding the national press adverts, which unfairly claimed its weekly shop was cheaper than its rivals by showing a basket of Tesco goods with the messages “Why pay more at Asda” and “Save a trolley-load of cash at Tesco” .
The first showed a trolley full of goods which it claimed cost £76.15 at Asda, but just £49.59 at Tesco . A second priced the goods at £75.11 for Morrisons and £49.58 at Tesco .
Although the prices of the goods in the trolley were correct, the ASA ruled that the comparisons were misleading as Tesco included some products which were on offer at the time, including certain brands of dog food and detergent.
As a result, the watchdog ruled that the campaign was misleading and has banned it from appearing on television again.
Furthermore, the ASA believed consumers would be misled into thinking the basket represented a typical shop, but with goods such as pet food and air fresheners the watchdog said this was not the case.
“The comparisons included the promotional price of many of the Tesco products and the everyday price of their competitors’ products,” commented a spokesman for the ASA.
“They were not representative of the savings consumers could generally expect from Tesco .
“We concluded that both ads were likely to mislead. The ads must not appear again in their current form,” he stressed.
Tesco has responded to the decision by saying the advertisements had included a statement which fully explained that some products were on offer at the time.
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