South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled in favour of retail group Pick ‘n Pay regarding a complaint from a member of public that the company’s Hypermarket marketing campaign was misleading by claiming Pick ‘n Pay is “always cheaper”.
In its ruling, announced on Tuesday, the ASA found that Pick ‘n Pay’s “always cheaper” slogan has been consistently substantiated over the past three years and is backed up by independent research, therefore making it not in any way misleading.
The ASA said it has investigated the complaint and was supplied with independent, verified research.
According to the ASA’s code of practice, all advertisers must have current documented evidence to support and substantiate all claims, whether direct or implied. The relevant advertisement should also not contain any statement that could mislead the consumer in terms of the value of the total price to be paid as well as characteristics such as the nature, composition, method and date of manufacture.
Pick ‘n Pay marketing director Jonathan Ackerman said that the company has based its “always cheaper” advertising campaign on independent price check research that is conducted monthly by a prominent, reputable South African research house.
These trolley-for-trolley price comparisons consistently analyse prices on a basket of 750 items of groceries, toiletries, perishables and confectionaries across every South African retailer, including Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarkets.
The sample basket also includes 10% of house branded items or alternatively, the cheapest item on the shelf. Research results have shown that Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarkets have consistently come out with the cheapest basket of goods.
“The ‘always cheaper’ slogan is a positioning statement that the company has used for all its Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarket advertising material since March 2003, with the advertising campaign aired on radio, television as well as newspaper inserts,” noted Ackerman.
“We carefully considered the slogan before embarking on the campaign, using independent research to verify our statement.
“We know that this statement is a true reflection when comparing the price of a trolley of similar products against all our competitors,” he concluded. — I-Net Bridge