The ASA has ruled a competition run by Heinz Beanz offering shoppers the chance to win “Free Dayz Out” omitted “significant conditions of the promotion” and was likely to mislead consumers.
The on-pack promotion, which ran on several Heinz Beanz products from 28 June 2023 to 31 October 2023, gave consumers the chance to apply for a variety of free events and activities across the UK by scanning a QR code.
In its defence, Heinz said the ad contained instructions on how to enter the promotion and had directed consumers to “an easily accessible alternative source” on its website where they could read the full terms and conditions. It said that “due to limited space available on the ad” it was appropriate to direct consumers online to read the full terms and conditions.
The ASA, however, said “significant conditions which were likely to affect consumers’ understanding of the promotion” were missing and their omission “was likely to mislead”.
These included the fact only consumers aged 18 years and over could participate in the promotion, that promotional vouchers had to be claimed by 31 October 2023 and that only one claim could be made per product purchased.
It also pointed out the CAP Code states even marketing communications “significantly limited by space” must include “as much information about significant conditions as practicable”.
It therefore found the ad to be in breach of its code, and ruled the ad may not appear again in the form complained of.
“Significant conditions of entry need to be clearly stated, so that consumers can make informed choices about entering,” said ASA senior media relations officer Toby King. “We appreciate that, for promotions on product packaging, there might be a limit to what can be covered, but we still expect as many significant conditions as practically possible.
“In this case, we determined that the omission of age of entry, the expiry date of vouchers and available claims per product and per day were relevant conditions that people needed to be made clearly aware of.
“We also found that the ad’s packaging in this case didn’t limit Heinz’s ability to include relevant terms and conditions.”
Heinz said the terms and conditions of the promotion “were made fully available” on its website, and that the promotion was now closed.
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