The old adage that bad news comes in threes has proved apposite for Barclays which, fresh from the high profile data theft and claims that customer trust was improving, has now been blasted by the ad watchdog over a Premier League ticket promotion.
The issue centres on an ad campaign which ran on the back of Barclays’ cashpoint receipts, headed “Win a pair of Barclays Premier League match tickets every 90 minutes, every day, until the end of the 2013/2014 season”.
When one customer tried to enter the promotion, he was told it had ended the month before – in September 2013 – so he was not eligible, sparking a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.
In response, Barclays said it had made a commercial decision to ditch the promotion and replace it with one running on social media, although it did admit that “human error” had led to the branch in question not changing the cashpoint receipt rolls when told to do so.
But it claimed the change was flagged up in the terms and conditions of the promotion, which stated it reserved the right to terminate the promotion at any time without notice. These conditions were available on its website and referenced on the receipts.
The ASA was less than impressed with the bank’s excuse, however, reasoning that the decision to cancel the promotion was made for commercial reasons within their control and that cancelling the promotion was a breach of the ad code on five counts, including misleading advertising.
Slamming the bank, the regulator told Barclays to ensure promotions comply with the ad code and to take sufficient steps to avoid causing unnecessary disappointment.
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