Mail Day, part 5: Blooming cheek
The Mail, not entirely without glee, reports today about the Government being upbraided by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading adverts about climate change:
Tsk. The Mail, though, have been caught out by the ASA before, as Roy Greenslade in the Guardian reported last December:
The Daily Mail has been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority for misleading its readers with a front-page blurb that claimed it was giving away plant bulbs for free.
...
The ASA stated: "We considered the cost of postage and packing was a significant condition that could affect a consumer's decision to purchase the paper, and should therefore be stated on the cover. Because it was not, we concluded the ad was misleading."
Well, it's not as if the Mail would repeat that now, with another offer claiming you could get free flowers, despite the fact you had to pay postage and packaging? Especially not in the same issue of the newspaper in which you delighted in the Government being told off by the ASA?
They wouldn't do that, would they?
Would they?
Free!
But:
Not quite so free! You have to send them your own envelope, or pay towards postage and packaging. I am almost 100% certain that the 'send us your own padded A4 envelope' bit is entirely there to try and grease themselves up for when and if the ASA get involved.
Will they get away with it this time? One thing's for sure, if they are ticked off by the ASA, you won't read about it in the Mail...
Related posts:
Buy my book, it’s great
Switch site
Donate
Recent Posts
- Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio…
- Children died
- The letters you never get around to sending
- Applying again
- I just sent Robin round – 2
Most Commented On
Recent Comments
- Iain on Applying again
- Roger on The letters you never get around to sending
- Dave Hodgkinson on The letters you never get around to sending
- droid on The letters you never get around to sending
- Rogue_Leader on The letters you never get around to sending
About Me
Hello. I'm a Bristol-based writer and soon-to-be-redundant journalist. You can read more about me and the Enemies site here, or follow me on Twitter. Email me if you like - antonvowl at live dot co dot uk
If you're struggling to read the site please use the drop down box below to increase the text size.
March 19th, 2010 - 05:49
If you send your own padded bag you also have to send £2.65 in stamps or £1.62 in stamps depending on which free bulb offer you go for – crucially they’ve placed the “£2.65″ or “£1.62″ cost indication for the stamps in the text describing the line, and not in the costs column. And the headline offer of 10 Stargazer Lily bulbs needs actual coin of the realm to cover the P&P. This shouldn’t wash with the ASA, and if I were the ASA, I’d find the M**l in contempt here, as they are deliberately trying to flout with the ruling they received before.
Well spotted!
July 11th, 2011 - 01:40
Damn, I’m fresh out of £1.62 stamps, as well. I had a £2.65 yesterday, but I used it with two of those pesky 74.25p stamps which we all have so many of to send off for a radioactive alarm clock.