Damartex UK Ltd t/a Damart Bowling Green Mills Bingley BD97 1AD Number of complaints: 1

Date: 15 October 2008 Media: Direct mail Sector: Clothing

Ad
A direct mailing, for Damart, was headed "Customer Rewards Royal Limoges". Below, it stated "I write with fantastic news! I can confirm that you will receive a splendid Free Gift taken from the exquisite French 'Royal Limoges' range of tableware when you place an order. See the official Notification enclosed within this document for confirmation: Thanks to your 2000 Loyalty Points, a Royal Limoges gift for six people is ready to be delivered to you! FREE GIFT APPROVED. You have been awarded this magnificent Free Gift as a sign of gratitude from us for your continued loyalty to Damart.  Discover the full details of your superb gift inside, along with the presentation of our prize draw items ... I can also officially confirm that your FREE Gift will be delivered to your home in xxxx - all we ask is that you order with us within 14 days!  As a result of your Loyalty Points, you are also entitled to be in with a chance of winning a complete Dinner Service, including serving platters, dinner plates and even a coffee set, all bearing the prestigious 'Royal Limoges' stamp. It could be our star prize: The Royal Limoges 'Opera' 48-Piece Dinner Service. I would love for you to win this superb Dinner service, and so I urge you to tick the box on your orderform confirming your 2000 Loyalty Points total and then return your completed orderform as soon as possible for your chance of receiving it as well as your Free Gift ...".  Inside the mailing, it stated "Congratulations Mrs xxxx you have been awarded a Royal Limoges Free Gift with 6 Place Settings! FREE GIFT plus Prize Draw Entry with more than 2000 Reward Points".  Above a photograph of a dinner service with forks and spoons text stated "YOUR ROYAL LIMOGES 'OPERA' DINNER SERVICE?".  Small print at the foot of the photo stated "*Prize Draw and Free Gift items are presented together above for illustration purposes".  Text below stated "Reply today and you could win the full 48-Piece Service, as well as receive your FREE Royal Limoges Dessert Cutlery Set ... this entire set will be won by a customer who has received over 2000 Reward Points. You will receive dessert cutlery as your Free Gift as listed above, and should you receive over 2000 Reward Points and be declared the winner of our Prize Draw, you may also receive the entire 48-Piece Royal Limoges 'Opera' Dinner Service".  Small print terms and conditions on the reverse of the mailing stated "This promotion is valid between 1st April 2008 and 30 June 2008. No purchase necessary to enter this promotion ..."

Issue
1. A recipient believed the mailing was misleading because it did not distinguish clearly between the free gift and prize draw and implied the recipient would receive the 48 piece dinner service as the free gift.

2. The ASA challenged whether the mailing made clear enough that recipients did not have to place an order to enter the prize draw.

The CAP Code:

7.1;27.4;35.1;34.1a

Response
1. Damart believed that the distinction between the free gift and the prize was made clear throughout the mailing.  They believed that the sentence, "Discover the full details of your superb gift inside, along with the presentation of our prize draw items" in the second paragraph on the first page introduced readers to the two offers, the gift and the prize draw, and invited them to look inside for further details of both offers.  They believed the use of "also" in the third paragraph, "As a result of your Loyalty Points, you are also entitled to be in with a chance of winning the complete Dinner Service ...", made clear that this was an additional offer to the gift and "chance of winning" indicated that the dinner service was not a free gift but a prize that could be won.  They believed this was emphasised in the fourth paragraph, which stated "win this superb Dinner Service ... for your chance of receiving it as well as your FREE Gift".

Damart said, on opening the mailing, readers were presented with a picture of the prize draw items and free gift and large text at the top left-hand corner which stated "FREE GIFT plus Prize Draw Entry with more than 2000 Reward Points". They believed text on the photo made clear that the prize draw and free gift were presented together. They said, below the picture, red type stated "Reply today and you could win the full 48-Piece Service, as well as receive your FREE Royal Limoges Dessert Cutlery Set ...", and believed this showed that there were two distinct offers. They said the mailing listed the entire contents of the 48-piece dinner service followed by text that stated "This entire set will be won by a customer who has received over 2000 Reward Points. You will receive the dessert cutlery as your Free Gift as listed above, and should you receive over 2000 Reward Points and be declared the winner of our Prize Draw, you may also receive the entire 48-Piece Royal Limoges Opera Dinner Service".  They believed this was a clear statement that the prize item, the dinner service, would be won by a customer in the prize draw and the reader would receive the dessert cutlery as their free gift and believed the reader would be in no doubt as to the offer.  They said text on the order form also stated "Please send me my FREE Royal Limoges Dessert Cutlery with my order" and, because most of their customers responded by post, customers would have read and completed the order form.

Damart said they had received no formal complaints from their customers about the mailing and believed that the majority of customers understood the distinction between the free gift and the prize draw.

2. Damart said their standard practice was to include references to a free entry route within prize draw promotions of this type.  They said they had numerous processes, including checklists and proof checking stages, to eliminate mistakes, but due to a one-off human error believed that, although the prize draw rules printed in the mailing stated "No purchase is necessary to enter the promotion", the no purchase route could have been clearer. They said they would tighten their processes in future.

Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA noted there were numerous references to "free gift" and "prize draw" throughout the mailing, and considered it was clear that there were two offers; a free gift and a chance to enter a prize draw.  However, we considered it was unclear from the six-page mailing whether or not the Royal Limoges dinner service was the free gift.  We noted that, although there were eight paragraphs of text on the first page, there was no indication as to what the free gift was, other than being part of the Royal Limoges range of tableware.  We noted it was not until the bottom of the third page of the mailing that the reader was actually told that their gift was a Royal Limoges dessert cutlery set.

We considered large text above the picture of the dinner service and cutlery, which stated "Congratulations Mrs XXX you have been awarded a Royal Limoges Free Gift with 6 Place Settings!", and text such as "... a Royal Limoges gift for 6 people is ready to be delivered to you!" and "Confirmed Award: Royal Limoges FREE GIFT" mixed together with references to the dinner service, confused the prize draw and the free gift.   We acknowledged text on the picture of the dinner service and cutlery stated "Prize Draw and Free Gift items are presented together above for illustration purposes" but considered that, because it did not state which of the items shown made up the gift and which was the prize, the text did not help to clarify the difference between the two offers.

We concluded that, because it did not distinguish clearly between the free gift and the prize draw, the mailing could mislead consumers.

On this point, the mailing breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness), 27.4 (Sales promotion rules), and 35.1 (Prize promotions rules).

2. Upheld
We noted Damarts explanation that, due to human error, the free entry route for the prize draw had not been made clear and we welcomed their assurance that they would be tightening their checking process in future.  However, because at the time the mailing was distributed, the free entry route had not been made sufficiently clear, we considered it could mislead consumers about how they could enter the prize draw.

On this point, the mailing breached CAP Code clause 34.1a (Significant conditions for promotions).

Action
The mailing must not appear again in its current form.  We told Damart to ensure their mailings distinguished clearly between offers of free gifts and prize draws and advised them to contact the CAP Copy Advice team for guidance when preparing future similar mailings.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)