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Bulletin: 19/5
Batch: 258
Reference: 33126
Product: Clothing / Footwear
Advertiser: Ciara O'Doherty Holiday Shop
Agency:
Medium: Online - Company Website
ASAI Code 7th Edition: 2.4(c), 3.31, 3.32, 4.1, 4.4
The webpage for the holiday shop had a number of gift ideas and links to various online retailers.
The complainant considered the advertisement to be misleading as the advertisers have not disclosed multiple affiliate links on the website in question.
The advertisers apologised for the mixup and said that there must had been an error in the code of that particular blog post. They said they usually had a version of the following disclaimer at the bottom of all posts which contain affiliate links: DISCLAIMER: I EARN A SMALL AMOUNT OF COMMISSION FROM AFFILIATE LINK SALES.
They said they had fixed the issue and provided a link to the amended advertisement and assured the ASAI that they would ensure this issue did not happen again. They said they always endeavoured to be fully compliant with the ASAI regulations regarding the disclosure of sponsored content and affiliate links.
Further information:
The ASAI Executive checked the amended advertisement and noted that the disclaimer was at the bottom of the page rather than at the top, prior to the viewer engaging with the content.Complaint upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee noted that an error had occurred.
They noted, however, that the disclaimer had not been on the website and that the Code requirement was that a marketing communication should be designed and presented in such a way that it was clear that it was a marketing communication.
In the circumstances, they considered the original presentation of the blog post was in breach of Code Sections 3.31, 3.32, 4.1 and 4.4.
ACTION REQUIRED:
The Committee noted the steps taken by the advertisers but told them to include such disclaimers at the top of relevant webpages.