Asos ordered to remove discount campaign by advertising watchdog
The email from the fashion e-commerce giant reportedly misled consumers
Fashion and beauty online giant Asos has been ordered to remove a promotion campaign by the UK's advertising watchdog.
The complaint argued that an email from Asos, which stated '20% off everything + free delivery' in the subject line and body copy was misleading, as Asos included an asterix which stated 'selected marked products excluded from promo'.
In response, Asos argued that the asterix signposted to a "small number of lines" which were not included in the offer, comprising mainly of branded sportswear and cosmetics.
However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form.
"The ASA considered that the claim '20% off everything' in the subject line and body text of the email would be understood by consumers to mean that all products on asos.com would be reduced by 20%," stated the ASA.
"We understood that around 1,100 products were excluded from the promotion and that Asos also did not include new items added to the site.
"However, we considered that consumers would expect those products to be included in the promotion based on the claim in the ad.
"Because consumers would understand that all items would be discounted by 20%, we concluded the claim '20% off everything' was misleading."
