Tesco has been found guilty of exaggerating the comparative cheapness of a basket of its product against its rivals, and banned from repeating an ad that makes the claims.
As the battle hots up to ensnare shoppers on the lookout for low prices, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that Tesco’s suggestion that it was up to 53 per cent cheaper than Asda and Morrisons for a basket of common items was false.
The ASA decided that the ads gave a misleading impression because Tesco's "cheap" products were on a “hit and run” promotion for a limited time and the biggest savings came from less common items such as branded dishwasher tablets and dog food.
An independent check of 17 products last month suggested that Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's have raised the price of many products by between 22 and 32 per cent over the past 13 months.
And Asda has consistently been the cheapest of all the big four supermarkets, according to the Grocer.
In the offending ads, Tesco compared a basket of “common” shopping items with its nearest rivals for budget shopping and stated: "Asda £76.15, Tesco £49.50. Why pay more at Asda?" and "Morrisons £75.11, Tesco £49.58. Save a trolley-load of cash at Tesco".
The ASA concluded that Tesco had not intentionally given the impression of general savings and agreed that several of the items, including fruit and vegetables were routinely bought by customers.
But it added: "We also noted, however, that the comparisons included a number of domestic household products and other goods which, we considered, were not representative of a consumer's typical shopping basket."
