A TV, radio and internet ad campaign for 15% off at Homebase when customers spent £50 during a 'national discount day' has been banned by the ASA because of implications the offer could be used in conjunction with other offers at the DIY store.
The retailer's radio ad was particularly criticised for stating "This weekend at Homebase there's a 15% off event in-store when you spend £50. That's 15% on top of our other great offers ... Exclusions apply." The ASA said the statement "exclusions apply" in the ad "contradicted, rather than clarified" the impression the offer could be used in conjunction with all other offers.

Homebase's TV ad included the statement: "That's 15% on top of our other great offers" with on-screen text stating "Excludes delivery charges, installation and gift vouchers." The website ad also stated "even on existing offers" while adding, "T&Cs apply".

The retailer said it believed that "because the ads did not state that the 15% discount applied to 'all' [its] other offers, it indicated to consumers that exclusions might apply". While it believed the TV and radio ads to comply with ASA rules, it admitted the website ad did not have the constraints of space and time inherent in broadcast adverts, and "could have made the exclusion to the national discount day offer clear". Homebase offered to make that amendment in future.

The ASA ruled: "the ads were misleading because the overall impression of each of the ads was that the national discount day offer could be used in conjunction with all other Homebase offers, when that was not in fact the case." The ad was banned and Homebase was told to ensure all future qualifications "clarified, rather than contradicted, the claims."