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Walkers 'Spell and Go' holiday competition falls foul of ASA ban

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

August 16, 2016 | 4 min read

Walkers has landed itself in hot water over the online element of its popular 'Spell & Go' competition which offered customers the chance to win a free holiday.

Walkers ASA ruling

Walkers has been given an ASA ban over the packaging

Marketing material hosted on the crisp brand's website has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority following hundreds of complaints from members of the public around various elements of the competition, which was marketed by AMV BBDO.

In total 112 shoppers complained to the watchdog about Walkers' contest, in which participants were required to spell out the name of destinations for an opportunity to win one of 20,000 holidays.

Not all of these objections were with Walkers' site – some were related to Facebook promotions, on-pack marketing, Twitter ads and TV spots – but the digital element of the competition is what courted a ban from the regulator.

The complaint upheld by the ASA focused on whether the brand had dealt fairly "and honourably" with participants, who believed that certain letters were needed to spell out the holiday destinations and qualify for the prizes.

All 26 potential prize destinations in the completion included at least one of Walkers' 'Type One' letters (C, D or K) while the remaining letters, 'Type Two' were less rare.

A 'Random Swap' function on Walkers' site, which enabled participants to swap up to five of their collected letters with alternative randomly-generated characters contained only Type Two letters, something the watchdog dubbed "misleading" since promo text on Walkers' website stated: "A Random Swap means that you can swap any letter that you don’t need for a randomly generated letter […] you’ll then receive a random letter that will appear in your dashboard."

Meanwhile, a relevant section of the terms and conditions of the promotion (also available via the website) stated: "A new letter is selected at random from a ‘pool’ of letters that are stored in a database [...] this swap is instant and all letters are treated equally."

The ASA said consumers were likely to infer from that that consumers would understand from both statements that the Random Swap pool included both types of letters, not just Type Two characters.

The omission of that significant condition from the references to the Random Swap mechanism in ad was misleading and likely to "cause unnecessary disappointment to consumers," said the ASA.

While the promotion has now ended, Walkers was warned not to show the marketing again in its current form, and advised that in similar future promotions the brand ensured that significant conditions for all were communicated to consumers.

In a statement to The Drum Walkers said it welcomed the ASA's recognition that the competition in itself was fair.

"We appreciate that the online letter swapping mechanic could have been clearer and we will ensure all future promotions take this feedback on board," a spokesperson added.

They pointed out that 796 families, had won four-star, seven-night holidays because of the contest and that 8,000 people who took part in the promotion won instant prizes including sunglasses and cameras.

"We’re aware some customers are disappointed that they haven’t been successful in winning a holiday. 20,000 holidays could have been won if all the promotional packs in the market had been played and we would have honoured all of those should that have been the case," they concluded.

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