Retail (Supermarket)

A Supervalu brochure advertising various products on offer in store included the following description of a wine on offer:

“Must Try €15
Cremant De Loire Premier Cru 75cl Save €9.99
‘For those planning a wedding or a big function I would strongly recommend you grab a bottle of this wine and sample it while it is on promotion. Crisp, clean, dry, with attractive hard fruit aromas and flavours, this is very close to Champagne style at a fraction of the price.’ – David Whelehan Ireland AM”

The complainant said that Cremant De Loire wine was not a Premier Cru as there was no Premier Cru in that appellation, nor was there such a claim on the bottle itself. He said that the advertising had been used many times since 2014 and he had repeatedly pointed this out to staff but it had never been corrected.

The advertisers acknowledged their error and said that the complainant was correct and that their advertising should not have referred to the wine as ‘Premier Cru’. They said that the error had been communicated to their wine buying and marketing teams.

They said that there was no deliberate intention behind the error and passed on their sincere apologies to the complainant and thanked them for bringing it to their attention.

Complaint Upheld.

The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee noted that the description of the wine had been unintentionally used in error. They also noted, however, that it had been in use for some considerable time despite it having been raised by the complainant. In view of the fact that the error had not been corrected until raised by the ASAI, the Committee considered that it was in breach of Sections 4.1 and 4.4 of the Code.

ACTION REQUIRED: The advertising must not reappear in its current form.