UK advertising body upholds complaint against Facebook post for Axer Markets
The ASA has concluded that a Facebook promotion by Axer Markets had not been administered fairly and was in breach of the Code.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has once again set its sights on Forex advertising, with Axer Markets, a financial markets trading insights company, being the latest entity whose activities have been drawn to its attention.
Earlier today, the ASA published a ruling regarding a Facebook post for Axer Markets from February this year. The ad post stated “COMPETITION TIME! Like & Share our page for a chance to win a £100 Amazon voucher. Competition ends February 28th, the winner will be announced shortly afterwards!”.
The complainant, who had been informed that they had won the competition but had not received the prize, challenged whether the promotion had been administered fairly.
The company responded that a separate winner had been announced and that they had been awarded the advertised prize.
The ASA has upheld the complaint, explaining that, under the CAP Code, promoters must award the prize as described in their marketing communications or reasonable equivalents, normally within 30 days. They must also ensure their promotions were conducted under proper supervision, that participants were able to retain or access terms and conditions throughout the promotion and they must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment.
However, the ASA had not received any information about how the promotion had been administered, nor evidence which showed that prizes had been awarded. In the absence of that, we concluded that the promotion had not been administered fairly and was in breach of the Code.
The ASA told Axer Markets to ensure that they awarded prizes as described in their marketing communications and that promotions were conducted under proper supervision.
In June last year, the ASA upheld a complaint against Learn to Trade Ltd, ruling that the claims in one of its ads about a Forex seminar were misleading, unsubstantiated and exaggerated. And in May 2017, the ASA found that a TV ad for FxPro breaches social responsibility rules as it placed undue emphasis on the potential benefits of investing in a high-risk financial product and targeted young, student clientele.
