Southend airport has been told by the advertising watchdog for a misleading free car parking promotion.
The
Advertising Standard Authority ASA ruled that the online advert
offering free parking in January and February did not make clear that
“significant” conditions applied, namely that numerous dates in those
months were excluded.
The ASA considered that the claim ‘Free
Parking In January & February 2013’ would be interpreted by readers
to mean that parking was available for free throughout those two
months,” the authority said.
“However, we understood that the terms of the offer excluded two periods in those months totalling nine days.
“We
considered that exclusions were significant conditions which were
likely to influence a consumer's decision about whether to respond and
should have been made clear in the ad itself. Because they were not, we
concluded that the promotion was misleading.”
The airport argued that the promotion was made in good faith with no malice or desire to mislead
