| Bulletin | 09/6 |
| Batch No. | 189 |
| Ref | 12489 |
| Product | Business |
| Advertiser | |
| Agency | |
| Medium | Leaflet |
| Complaint Advertisement: The advertisement stated: “Attract new customers by advertising on Google Get started today with €50.00 Free Advertising Trial Try AdWords for Free today It’s quick and easy – your ads can be up and running in no time and there’s no minimum spend or contract required. Simply visit http://adwords.google.co.uk to start your Free trial today. To redeem your voucher, go to the ‘Billing’ section with your account and enter your code. Your promotional code is”; (Code number provided here) “This expires on 31/10/2009” The terms and conditions at the bottom of the leaflet referred to the fact that; “The promotional code can only be used for Adwords accounts that are less than 14 days old. Voucher can be redeemed for AdWords advertising. Only one promotional code per customer. Customers must be from the UK or Ireland. A €5 account activation fee or equivalent credit deduction required, depending on your preferred billing options. For full terms and conditions please visit Http://www.google.co.ukadwords-voucherterms”. Complaint: The complainant having seen the reference to ‘Free’ in the advertisement decided to sign up to the offer. He entered his credit card details and was subsequently charged a €5.00 account activation fee. When he re-examined the advertising he noticed that there was an account activation fee applicable to the offer. However, he considered the use of the word free to be misleading if consumers incurred a fee when signing up. |
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| 2006 Code | |
| 2002 Code |
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| Response The advertisers in their response said that: • the free advertising trial referred to in the leaflet was for a free advertising credit to the value of €50 for use with their AdWords product, which permits advertisers to place online ads to appear on their website, and associated websites in their advertising network. • to use this advertising credit, a person must set up a new AdWords account online (the offer is aimed at new users of AdWords only), and one of their standard requirements for all new AdWords accounts is that the owner of the account must pay an account activation fee of €5 to ensure that all advertisers are committed to creating well targeted advertisements. • these requirements were made very clear in the terms and conditions contained on the leaflet itself, and further details were provided on the web page referred to on the leaflet which contained the full terms and conditions of this offer (at http://www.google.co.uk/adwords-voucherterms). • in order to ensure that this free offer was not misleading and to comply with the ASAI Code requirements on offers described as "free", the voucher promotional code actually credits the user's AdWords account with €55 of credit, representing the €50 value described in the leaflet plus the €5 account activation fee – so after the account activation fee is applied, the user is left with the €50 value expected. • Google have also ensured that people who wish to take up the offer without paying any money up front could do so. This could be done by selecting a post-pay billing method (which may be by credit card or debit card), which allows the €5.00 account activation fee to be deducted from the value of the voucher (which as mentioned, is actually €55, so the user still gets their €50 of credit they expect). This the advertisers said is made clear in the terms contained at http://www.google.co.uk/adwords-voucherterms, which were clearly indicated on the leaflet itself. |
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| Conclusion Complaint Not Upheld. The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. They noted that the account activation fee had been referred to in the leaflet and that customers were credited with €55 thus ensuring that they received the €50 free trial. Action Required: No further action required. |
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