Morrisons has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority advertising watchdog over rival Aldi‘s advert, which makes a mockery of the big four grocer‘s prices by claiming Aldi products are 30% cheaper.
Aldi boss Matthew Barnes said that the supermarket‘s campaign was in reaction to Morrisons‘ recent “Price Crunch” promotion and was designed to “set the record straight”.
In the ad, the value retailer directly compares the prices of its own-brand products with like-for-like items at Morrisons.
A rival supermarket also added that by comparing “price per pack”, there was no distinction between brands, organic or premium lines.
As a result, Aldi could claim a difference in price between its range of mince meat and Tesco‘s Finest minced beef.
“Using a comparison between own-label products and branded to suggest Aldi prices are cheaper is misleading and disingenuous”, said analyst Bruno Monteyne at Bernstein.
“Every supermarket has private label and branded items as well and they could claim a similar
A spokesman for the ASA confirmed that Morrisons was among a few who had complained and “challenged whether Aldi’s comparison of exclusive own brand products with premium branded products during Morrison’s ‘Price Crunch’ is misleading and presents an unfair and unrepresentative price advantage.”
The watchdog is still assessing whether to launch an investigation. Last week the ASA ruled that Tesco could not run its Brand Guarantee advert in its current form following a complaint from Sainsbury‘s that it wasn‘t made clear customers must purchase 10 items to qualify for the promotion.
“The comparisons are accurate, fair and fully compliant with the UK CAP codes and ASA‘s regulations, and we are proud to have helped millions of shoppers across the UK to reduce their grocery bills”, said a spokesman for Aldi.
