Asda confused customers with misleading promotion on Choco Squares cereal, ASA finds

The warning comes only a week after Asda pledged to put an end to confusing deals

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the supermarket’s online deal on its Choco Squares should not be repeated (Asda)

Asda confused customers with a misleading promotion on Choco Squares cereal, according to the Advertising Standards Authority.

The supermarket has been ordered to ensure its future promotions do not mislead shoppers on savings they could achieve.

The warning comes only a week after Asda pledged to put an end to confusing deals in a written agreement addressed to the government’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), an advertising watchdog, on Wednesday said that the supermarket’s online deal on its Choco Squares, which appeared on the website from July 2015 Cereal, confused customers and should not be repeated.

Asda's online shop offered a multi-buy promotion for three boxes of Choco Squares children cereal at £3 while stating a single box cost £1.38.

(Twitter (Twitter)

But a shopper, who understood the price of the product had been increased from 97p per box prior to the promotion, suggested the price had been deliberately inflated to make the deal more attractive and raised a complaint.

“Because the ad suggested the usual selling price of their Choco Squares was £1.38, and implied a saving could be achieved against the usual selling price when that was not the case (indeed, when the multi-buy unit price was more expensive than the usual selling price), we concluded that it was misleading,” the ASA said.

“The advert must not appear again in its current form. We told Asda Stores to ensure their future promotions did not mislead about the savings consumers could achieve,” the watchdog added.

Asda denied the offer was misleading. The grocer said the ad communicated the current selling price of £1.38 for an individual pack and that all other information was present in the ad in order for a customer to make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase the product.

Which? raised concerns about supermarket pricing and promotional practices in April 2015.

The consumer group accused retailers of using “misleading” deals to create the illusion of cheaper prices, asking the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate.

Just last week, Asda has given a written commitment to the CMA that it will alter the way it presents promotional deal. The grocer has already started making changed which will be fully implemented by August 2016.

Andy Clark, Asda chief executive, said the grocer is “consistently” recognised as the UK’s lowest price, full range supermarket.

“Asda has won the Grocer 33, the most credible pricing measure in our industry, for the last 18 years, and we’re pleased that the CMA has today recognised that we take pricing compliance seriously,“ Clarke said last week.

The vast majority of shoppers cannot accurately identify which “buy one, get one free” or other special offer deals are the best value for money, according to a recent survey by the Government-backed Money Advice Service (MAS).

Just one in 50 people selected the best-value option from four sets of offers. About three-quarters of people answered at least one question correctly.