Description:
The ad, appearing on Google shopping as a sponsored link, advertised a winter parka for the price of $173.99.
Complaint:
The complainant challenged that the ad was misleading as they found that, when clicking through to the product page on the advertiser’s website, the price of the advertised parka was actually $375. They found that they could not get the product at the price appearing on Google shopping, $173.99.
Response:
The advertiser responded that they had provided Google with data regarding this product in order to generate a product listing. It appeared that the data was incorrectly entered, as it identified the model’s height (173.99 cm) as the price of the product. The advertiser confirmed that the product was no longer incorrectly priced on the Google shopping page and that they have taken steps to prevent this from happening again.
Decision:
Council considered the complaint together with the ad and the advertiser’s response. They understood that the price resulted from incorrect data being pushed to Google Shopping. Given that an inaccurate price was displayed for the item, Council members unanimously determined that the ad had breached Clause 1(a) of the Code by making a deceptive and misleading claim.
Council also reviewed the ad and complaint under Clause 3(a) of the Code, which states that no advertisement shall include deceptive price claims or discounts, unrealistic price comparisons or exaggerated claims as to worth or value. While some members considered that the ad included a deceptive price claim, a majority of Council members determined that the advertiser was not actually making a price claim as the inaccurate price was an error caused by the information being wrongly coded, and therefore there was no violation of Clause 3(a) of the Code.
For these reasons, Council determined that the ad had only breached Clause 1(a) of the Code.
Infraction:
Clause 1(a)
