New guidance on teleshopping prices
06 December 2004
The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) has issued guidelines for teleshopping service providers to help minimise the potential for misleading price comparisons or indications in teleshopping advertising.
The guidance - given in the Help Note on Price Indications and Comparisons in Teleshopping Advertising – comes in the wake of the £450,000 fine issued by Ofcom to the teleshopping channel Auctionworld for various breaches of the Television Advertising Standards Code.
The Help Note is intended to prevent the use of false Recommended Retail Prices, exaggerated prices cuts and deceptive comparisons with higher quality products. The guidance given includes:
• If an item or service is available only from the advertisers then guide prices, Recommended Retail Prices (RPP), or similar should not be used.
• All comparative or illustrative prices should be genuine. Proof that items have been sold at these prices should be held prior to broadcast.
• When making comparisons with an advertisers’ own previous price, the previous price should be the last price that the product was available to consumers in the last six months and should also have been available for at least 28 days at that price.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) also has a Code of Practice on Price Indications which advertisers are expected to adhere to so that they comply with the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The Television Standards Code also requires compliance with the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 (as amended 2000).
Commenting on the release of the Help Note, Andrew Brown, Chairman of BCAP said “By ensuring that their advertising complies with both the help note and the DTI’s Code of Practice on Price Indications, teleshopping service providers should avoid misleading their customers with the guide prices that they promote. Clearer pricing guides will lead to fewer disappointed customers, which is good for the both the industry and consumers.”
Download the Help Note on Price Indications and Comparisons in Teleshopping Advertising