Getir GETS caught by the ASA for failing to DELIVER!

Getir, an online grocery app, got caught by the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) for advertising a discount so good that it could not DELIVER on the customer demand that was generated as a result! 

The AD:   

Getir sent an email to its customers with the subject “£20 off!” and the contents “£20 off when you spend £21!” followed by “Claim my £20 discount. Spend £21, get £20 off. Yup, you read that right! Shop right now to get all your essentials for a quid!”.  

What did Getir GET so very wrong?  

An entrant immediately attempted to redeem the promotion but was told it had been paused. They then challenged whether the promotion had been fairly administered.  

Getir’s Response:  

• Getir accepted that consumers did not have sufficient information regarding the promotion to make an informed decision whether to participate or not because the ad did not communicate the promotion was not available at all times.  
• They said the email had been prepared by the UK marketing team but the promotional team in Turkey implemented the promotion, therefore was a disconnect between the two teams as to the mechanics of the promotion. The UK marketing team did not know that the promotion was only available at certain times and in certain locations and therefore this information was not included in marketing materials.  
• The teams realised the error the day after the live date when they were unable to meet the demand for the promotion at peak rush hour. The unexpected demand from the World Cup and the festive period were not taken into account in their forecasting. Getir said they mitigated the impact by immediately suspending the promotion and placing a banner on the app alerting consumers that the promotion was unavailable due to high demand. They then informed customers that they could participate in the promotion, however, it was only available to certain customers throughout the week.  

The Outcome:  

The ASA upheld their ruling for the following reasons:  

• To consumers, the email implied that all individuals who received the email were eligible. There were no eligibility criteria on the email nor any information indicating that the promotion was location dependent. Therefore, consumers would expect the promotion to be available to everyone, when in actuality it was not. The ASA ruled this was a breach of Section 8.2 of the CAP Code which states, “promoters must conduct their promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly and honourably with participants and potential participants” and they must “avoid causing unnecessary disappointment”. Using phrases such as “subject to availability” does not relieve the “obligation to do everything reasonable to avoid disappointing participants”.  
• Getir did not honour the promotion when participants unsuccessfully tried to redeem the discount. Due to the nature of discount codes not being of finite availability, it was reasonable to expect Getir to extend the promotion to those who received the email to avoid disappointing participants. Getir failed to do this and therefore did not take all reasonable steps to avoid disappointing participants. 

PromoVeritas Takeaways: 

• All marketing communications must contain all significant conditions! 
• Clauses that allow you to cancel or suspend promotions in your discretion are not something you can always rely on! These clauses can only be relied on in the most exceptional, unforeseen circumstances, genuinely outside the control of the Promoter. 
• When running and planning promotions ensure all the teams in the business are communicating with each other and that the legal teams are kept in the loop!  
• When running promotions that involve a gift with purchase or a discount with purchase, a reasonable estimate of likely demand needs to be made. 

We at PromoVeritas review marketing communications to ensure they are fully compliant, if you want to GET the PromoVeritas stamp of approval, feel free to get in touch!