Birthday voucher ad gets DionWired slap on wrist

30 March 2015 - 14:07 By Roxanne Henderson
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Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

The fine print on a DionWired ad was not good enough to keep the advertising watchdog from banning it.

The electronics store wished its account holders a happy birthday with a R200 voucher – but a customer found out that this was only if he spends at least R1,000.

The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) ordered the retailer to withdraw the store brochure advertisement promoting the birthday voucher after finding that it made no mention of the condition.

This after Mahesh Deva of Cape Town complained about the “misleading” advertisement that promised “A R200 birthday voucher to spend at your favourite DionWired store” if you opened an account.

In a “tiny” footnote, the ad said that “Terms and Conditions apply”, but it was not stated what the terms and conditions were.

When Deva wanted to cash in his birthday voucher, he found he was not given a discount because the voucher is only valid when one spends a certain amount.

The relevant store's management could not tell him how much he had to spend and it was only when he scrutinised the retailer's website that he noticed the conditional amount was set at R1,000.

In his complaint to the ASA, Deva pointed out that the brochure should have said the store offered a “R200 discount voucher on purchases larger than R1,000”.

DionWired told the regulatory body that its advertising was not intended to be a comprehensive document, “but rather a quick view of the features and benefits of the DionWired credit facility...”

It also said that it would be increasing the conditional amount to R2,000 soon and that once it had it would amend its artwork.

The ASA was not satisfied that DionWired had done enough to inform its customers and said that the wrong impression was created in the brochure. It may no longer use this advertisement in its current form.

DionWired director Nazim Cassim said in response to a request for comment: "DionWired have removed any communication promoting the benefits of opening a DionWired account, all advertising communication with regards to the benefits are currently being reviewed."

The ASA found similarly against retailer Edgars in 2006 in a ruling in which it said “the hypothetical reasonable person is likely to interpret the offered 'R300 IN VOUCHERS' to mean that the voucher holder would be able to get R300 worth of products in exchange, without any additional purchase”.

Ann Goslin of the South African National Consumer Union said it is quite common for consumers to misinterpret advertisements due to vague information.

“Companies must realise the implications of misleading consumers. According to the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) they can be held liable for creating the wrong impression which could mean huge costs and they can also forfeit their licence to do business should it be a serious offence,” Goslin said.

“The CPA further very clearly stipulates that all letters should be the same size – especially terms and conditions – not a tiny footnote that consumers can hardly see.”

Deva did not respond to requests for comment.

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