ASA upholds Countdown complaint about Mad Butcher ads
posted on 17th December 2013
The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint by Progressive Enterprises, owners of Countdown, that a series of adverts by The Mad Butcher claiming that Countdown was 31.5 percent more expensive was likely to mislead customers.
Jo, understood to be a real person, bought five meat products from the Mad Butcher Onehunga store and the Countdown Greenlane store on May 22.
These products cost $88.95 at the Mad Butcher, and $116.95 at Countdown, so the consumer could have saved $28 or 31.5 per cent, as advertised by the Mad Butcher.
Progressive Enterprises said the advertisements were misleading because no "basket shop" was undertaken by Jo at Countdown; consumers could not buy four of the five Countdown products at the prices listed in the campaign; one kilogram packs of meat were not available for purchase at Countdown; the products compared were not of similar quality; and the Mad Butcher prices should have been compared with the Countdown Onehunga prices.


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