// Argos rapped by ASA for “misleading” shoppers with an online Xbox advert
// The ads showed two Xbox consoles with captions such as “Going Fast! Last purchased 1 minute ago”
Argos has come under fire after claims it was “misleading” shoppers with an online Xbox advert.
The retailer‘s website showed two Xbox consoles in September and October 2021 with captions such as “Going Fast! Last purchased 1 minute ago” and “Selling Fast! Purchased 24 times since your last visit”.
Two complainants challenged statements such as “last purchased one minute ago” and “selling fast! purchased 24 times since your last visit”.
ASA concluded that because Argos had not been able to substantiate the claims about recent purchases stated in the ad, the ad was “misleading and breached the Code”.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
One complainant, who understood that Argos did not have stock of the Xbox Series X 1TB Console, challenged whether the claims “Last purchased 1 minute ago” and “Purchased 24 times since your last visit” were misleading and could be substantiated.
The listing for one model also stated “In Demand! 100+ others added this to basket today”.
One complainant said that the Xbox Series X 1TB Console was not available either for collection or delivery in any location they selected, and challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Argos responded by saying that 9,159 units of X Box Series X 1TB Console had been sold between 13 September 2021 and 7 November 2021.
The retailer added that it could not provide historical closing stock positions, as that data was not kept on record.
It also said that on the day the complainant saw the messages “Last purchased 1 minute ago” and “Selling Fast! Purchased 24 times since your last visit”, 172 consoles had been sold.
The products in question had not completely gone out of stock at the time the ad was seen, according to Argos, but they had only limited availability – which had been highlighted on the website.
The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claims “Last purchased 1 minute ago” and “Purchased 24 times since your last visit” to be accurate representations of the sales history of the product in question.
It said the Xbox Series X Console was a product which was in high demand at the time the ad was seen, and that stock levels across the UK were limited.
“We therefore considered that a retailer who listed such an item as being in stock would expect to see an increase in attempted purchases because of the mixture of its scarcity and popularity,” ASA said.
“We acknowledged Argos’s comment that 172 consoles had been sold on the day the complainant saw the messages concerning its recent sales history, and that availability had depended on a consumer’s location.
“Argos did not, however, provide any evidence to substantiate the claim seen by the complainant that a console had been sold within a minute of when they had seen the ad, nor 24 times since their last visit.”
