The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints by Argos and B&Q about claims made for non-food prices in adverts placed by Tesco and Lidl.

Argos objected to a national press ad run by Tesco last Easter promoting cut-price offers on electrical goods on the grounds of insufficient availability. The ad featured satnav equipment, Dyson vacuum cleaners, Samsung TVs and Servis washing machines.

The ASA said it found Tesco had run out of everything in the ad except satnavs on day one of the promotion. It rejected Tesco's claim that this was due to availability problems and said the ad breached clauses in the Committee of Advertising Practice code covering "truthfulness and availability in sales and promotions". It told Tesco it must have sufficient stock for future offers.

Meanwhile, B&Q has successfully challenged a Lidl leaflet last April that compared the prices of eight "similar" garden products at the two stores. The ASA upheld B&Q's complaint that Lidl only gave generic descriptions of B&Q products without mentioning brands, saying this was likely to mislead consumers. The authority also judged Lidl's comparison of a Landmann barbecue to a B&Q Lisbon barbecue in a press ad unfair.

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