Watchdog rejects Tesco complaint over Asda ad

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) did not uphold Tesco’s complaint that an advert claiming that customers could save £15 at Asda compared to a shop at Tesco implied Asda shoppers can regularly save £15.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that Asda had made it clear that the claim was a testimonial from a shopper rather than widely representative.   

The advert showed an Asda shopper holding a receipt and large text stated “We’ve saved over £15 against Tesco”.

Small print at the bottom of the page included the pledge that Asda will be “10% cheaper or we’ll give you the difference on your comparable grocery shopping versus Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s & Waitrose”.

Tesco also said the claim was misleading as it did not make clear that Asda had compared its own promotional prices and multi-buy prices with Tesco non-promotional prices.

Tesco said it is considering an appeal. A spokeswoman said: “The ASA itself seems to be confused on this issue, first upholding our complaint and then overturning its own ruling. In the end the Asda advert appears to be have been upheld on the grounds that it wasn’t Asda making the misleading claim, it was the unsuspecting customer in their advert. We are considering whether to appeal further as this latest ruling is not clear to anyone.”

In a separate complaint, Tesco also avoided censure over its £5 off voucher campaign. The advertising watchdog received complaints that the vouchers required a minimum spend.

The ASA said the exclusion was down to human error and had been rectified by Tesco.