Advertisment
The advertisement for Aldi Specialbuys featured a picture of a mini Serrano ham on a wooden block with a knife lying alongside. The offer read as follows:
“A slice of heaven
Mini Jámon Serrano €19.99 1.5kg”.
Complaint
The complainant said that while the weight of the ham had been advertised as 1.5kg, the actual weight specified on the box label was 0.950kg. The complainant therefore considered the advertising to be misleading.
Response
The advertisers said that they conducted a thorough investigation of the matter and while the weight of the Aldi ham product had been correctly displayed in store, they had inadvertently included the incorrect weight on their website. The error occurred as a result of including the weight of the wooden board which the ham was hung on. in the overall weight of the product.
The advertisers said that while they accepted that an error had occurred on their website, the product had at all times been correctly advertised in-store. They said the correct weight and price of the ham had been clearly displayed on the instore price card and on the packaging of the product itself. As they did not sell their products online they considered that there had never been any possibility that a customer could have purchased the product believing that the product weighed 1.5kg.
Conclusion
Complaint Upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the details of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. They noted that a genuine error had occurred in relation to the weight of the product advertised on the company’s website, nevertheless, the product description was incorrect and the Committee considered the advertisement was in breach of Section 2.24 of the Code.
Action Required:
The Complaints Committee reminded advertisers of the need for care when describing products.
