The ASA has recently scrutinised teleshopping firm Gemporia Ltd for its price claims relating to a set of Tahitian pearl earrings. The claims were made during a presentation on the Gems TV channel.
One complainant questioned if the price statements made about the resale or market price of the product were misleading and if the price comparison with another retailer's product was misleading because the product was of different quality.
So what happened and just how much are these earrings worth?
During the presentation, the breathless presenters claimed that the Tahitian pearl earrings, initially priced at £899, could be worth up to £8,999. The price was subsequently reduced to £599, with assertions that the earrings could be valued at double that amount. The final price was £369, with a claim that they could be resold for ten times that amount.
I know, it sounds like the set up for a GCSE maths question we'll never know the answer to... However, the ASA investigated and came to the conclusion that the earrings had been valued at £1,198, £3,690, £5,990 and £8,999 over the course of the ad. It found all of these claims to be unsubstantiated.
Gemporia had referenced a pricing guide for Tahitian Black Cultured Pearls, but the highest value listed for a similar pair was $4,200, significantly lower than the £8,999 mentioned in the TV ad. Additionally, no evidence was provided to substantiate the quality of the advertised earrings, further undermining the price claims.
The ASA also found fault with a comparison made with a competitor's product. The presenter showed a pair of Tahitian pearl earrings from a "prestigious jewellery house" priced at £975 and suggested that Gemporia's earrings were of superior quality. However, the competitor's earrings were made with 18 carat white gold, whereas Gemporia's were only 9 carat gold. This significant difference in gold content and durability meant the products could not be considered "substantially equivalent", making the price comparison misleading.
Ultimately, the ASA concluded that the ad breached several BCAP Code rules, including those on misleading advertising, substantiation and price comparisons.
The ruling serves as yet another reminder of the importance of substantiating price claims and the very high bar enforced by the ASA. There have been many ASA rulings on price claims recently and the ASA takes a very strict view, especially when dealing with comparative claims. In addition, reference pricing continues to be a hot topic for both the ASA and the CMA, which introduced this new guidance in August last year.
Of course, in a teleshopping context, we have the additional and unpredictable challenges of live TV to deal with, so it's important to ensure that presenters understand very clearly what they can and cannot say about products and their prices - and even more important that they stick to the script!
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