KEY POINTS:
The Mad Butcher chain has been warned that if it wants to advertise lower prices than its competitors, it must name names.
Among the Mad Butcher's ads for specials in May was this one: "Fresh boneless chicken breasts, $9.99 a kilo. Why pay up to $18.49kg elsewhere!"
The ad generated a letter to the Advertising Standards Authority's complaints board, saying: "They repeatedly advertise 'Why pay up to $18.49kg elsewhere', and similar claims, but never identify where this is."
ad Butcher disclosed the price was taken from Woolworths Online website. A staffer regularly got competitors' product prices from published sources, including websites and printed ads.
"Mad Butcher then decides which of the items shall be made available as 'specials' and the relevant comparison may then be published."
Mad Butcher said it was very careful any claim it made in comparative advertising could be fully substantiated.
The board said the ad did not breach the code of ethics but did breach the segment of the code for comparative advertising that said "the competition should be fairly and properly identified". The complaint was part upheld.
- NZPA
