DFS Christmas adverts banned over misleading claims
DONCASTER furniture retailer DFS has been given a slap on the wrist and forced to withdraw adverts following a ruling which claimed they were misleading.
Two viewers challenged the advertisements, questioning whether they could be substantiated in official complaints to the advertising watchdog.
The internet and television advertisements, first seen on TV on 25 December 2015 promoted its “best ever” winter sale, using a ‘Nest’ corner sofa as an example. It said the sofa would be £1395 and £2995 after the event ended on 6 January 2016.
A four-seater sofa product was advertised online as part of the campaign, telling customers they would be saving £100 on its £899 original price in the sale.
DFS said the only price comparison in the ad was with a future price and the ad did not refer to a previous selling price, and producers of the adverts, Clearcast backed their claims up.
However the Advertising Standards Authority has said the ads, which advertise its 2015 winter sale, must not appear again in their current form.
It said they were misleading in that the sofas in question had been on sale for the same prices for roughly the same amount of time in the preceding year. It said DFS did not provide them with the requested information on sales data to determine whether they were being sold at the higher price previously.
The ASA told DFS Trading Ltd to ensure that they held evidence to show that their savings claims were genuine in future.
