A series of Aldi ads claiming shoppers could make big savings compared to the “big four” supermarkets have been banned for misleading consumers.
Aldi ran two TV ads which claimed that a £70 shop at the budget supermarket would cost £98 at the UK’s four biggest chains - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons - and compared a £33.04 Alsi basket with the so-called equivalent at its competitors which it claimed would cost £53.35.
A press ad read: “When it comes to the crunch, Aldi win every time. Other supermarkets go up, down, all over the place. But Aldi have ‘everyday low prices’, so you know where you stand.”
Rival Morrisons and two members of the public lodged complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority that Aldi compared products in the ad that made the price comparison misleading and unfair.
In its ads, Aldi included comparisons between its own-brand products against only branded products sold by rivals, who all also sell their own budget own-label lines of products.
The German discount supermarket said it has included a disclaimer on-screen pointing out that rivals may also sell own-brand products at different prices.
The ASA said that consumers would expect the products that Aldi selected to be a “fair and representative” selection.
“We acknowledged that Aldi stated they had not intended the comparisons to represent a ‘typical’ weekly shop but to be a comparison between the pictured products only,” said the ASA. “Nonetheless we considered that was how consumers would interpret the ads rather than as a representation of the savings which could be made by switching from a largely branded shop to shopping in Aldi, and therefore assessed them on that basis.”
The ASA banned the ad campaign as misleading.
Matthew Barnes, chief executive of Aldi UK and Ireland, said that the company was “extremely disappointed” with the ASA’s “ambiguous and inconsistent” decision.
“The use of comparative advertising is a well-established principle and is firmly in the interests of consumers and encourages competition between retailers,” he said. “We will work within this new guidance from the ASA and continue to promote the significant price gap between Aldi’s quality, award winning products and their higher priced brand equivalents.”
