Play.com falls foul of advertising watchdog again

Online music retailer Play.com has received another warning from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for claims it made about the savings it offers.

This is the second time in a year that the UK's advertising watchdog has had to censure Play over its advertising claims.

The ASA ruled this month that a national press ad placed by Play for several CDs with savings of up to 50 per cent on the £15.99 recommended retail price (RRP). It said that Play did not have enough evidence that the albums were actually on sale for £15.99 at the time of the adverts.

It therefore ruled that the retailer had broken its rules on the substantiation of claims and on price comparisons.

The advert at the centre of the current complaint was headlined 'NEW MUSIC RELEASES'. A label below stated 'Music SAVE UP TO 50%'; the ad showed several CDs: Glasvegas's album of the same name was labelled 'SAVE £8' and text below stated '£7.99 RRP £15.99'.

Text below each of the albums 'Slime and Reason' by Roots Manuva, The Automatic's 'This Is A Fix' and The Verve's 'Forth' stated '£8.95 RRP £15.99'; text below Natty's 'Man Like I' and The Cool Kids' 'The Bake Sale' stated '£7.99 RRP £15.99'.

Small print stated: 'Prices are correct at time of going to press. Play.com reserve the right to change prices. Subject to availability.'

The ASA said: "Because the albums by Glasvegas, Roots Manuva, The Automatic and The Verve were not on general release at the time the ads appeared, we concluded that the RRPs, and therefore the 'savings' based on those RRPs, were unsubstantiated, because they could not reflect the prices at which the products were generally sold."

Play defended itself by saying it believed the RRPs in the ad genuinely reflected the prices at which the products would normally be sold. The ASA said the ad must not appear again in the current form.

Last April the ASA censured the company for advertising RRPs for products which were not yet on release, and was told not to do so again. The savings were based on recommended retail prices (RRPs) for the albums of £15.99.

The company said that it had changed its policies after this ruling so that RRPs were not used for music that had not yet been released. It said that there had been an error in the current case and that it had taken steps to prevent it from happening again.

A spokeswoman for the ASA said that it had not been the case that Play had ignored the ASA's earlier ruling, and that the problems in each case had been different.

But she said that if a company persistently ignored its rulings it would be reported to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which would take further action. However, it felt that this was unlikely.