An easy and frequent mistake made in promotions is omitting the significant terms and conditions of an on-pack promotion. As for why this mistake occurs so often, it’s likely due to the initial definition of ‘significant terms & conditions’ not being entirely clear, it reads more as a vague statement and doesn’t give brands the best idea as to what these terms may be.
CAP Code 8 - Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) Compliance
What’s significant to your brand?
Writing short terms & conditions
For brands, CAP Code 8 will cover every major consideration for a promotion’s successful running from beginning to end on a UK regulatory level. However, for considerations that will get audiences and shoppers engaged, like prizes, the right promotional mechanics and how to build promotions, brands should look to other resources. As for the topic of significant terms and conditions, they are covered in sections 8.17, 8.18, as well as 8.28 and cover quite thoroughly what the ASA considers as ‘significant’ for terms and conditions.
The most general definition provided by the ASA on ‘significant terms & conditions’ is any conditions that may cause information to be misled if omitted.
Whilst there are numerous conditions to include, there is some variation depending on the type of promotion being run. For most, almost all the CAP codes under 8.17 will apply and must be included in all communications and materials that refer to the promotion.
This means on-pack promotions, promotional point-of-sale displays, as well as social media posts regarding the promotion.
Promotional materials must include:
There are also a few additional significant conditions for judged competitions, but for chance-based promotions, the above are most of the significant terms outlined within the non-broadcast CAP Codes.
Initially, the above may seem like a lot of terms to include in promotional materials and there may be concerns as to whether all these details will fit into marketing communications appropriately. Thankfully, this issue is addressed within the CAP Codes.
They state that marketing communication including a promotion which is severely limited by time and space should include as much significant information and conditions about the promotion as possible and must direct consumers to an easily accessible source where all significant conditions and clearly stated. Participants should be able to easily access and keep these conditions throughout the promotion.
Every brand and every promotion will have differences but according to the ASA, there should almost always be a clear explanation for consumers as to how to participate; a closing date, the nature and number of prizes or gifts; as well as any restrictions. However, brands should still be cautious to include any possibly unusual requirements that are in their promotion.
Brands should also include an avenue, preferably both a QR code and a web address to full terms and conditions. However, promoters should be cautioned: including just a link to the full terms & conditions is often not enough for the ASA. Recently, there have been several rulings wherein a brand has simply included a link to the full terms & conditions and failed to include any significant terms immediately in the marketing communications.
For example, in January 2024, a ruling against Heinz was upheld in reaction to their ‘Heinz Dayz Out’ promotion. The on-pack promotion failed to include several significant terms and simply used a QR code and a web address with text that stated, “Claim your voucher on dayout.heinz.co.uk T&Cs apply” and “SCAN TO CLAIM YOUR REWARD HEINZ DAYZ OUT”. In ASA’s assessment, they stated, “The ad did not include any of the above significant conditions of the promotion. However, we considered the ad was not sufficiently limited by time or space to justify their omission. We therefore concluded the ad had breached the Code.”
Another example was a ruling against Future Farm in May 2024. An on-pack promotion stated “WIN £1000 BUY ME AND SCAN TO ENTER *T&C’S APPLY” with a QR code in the centre. With no terms and conditions on the product packaging, and none on the Future Farm website wherein the consumer would be directed after scanning the QR code. Instead, the terms and conditions were listed on an Instagram post in December 2023 - the QR code on-pack therefore did not provide an easily accessible source for their terms & conditions and nor were there any significant terms on their promotional product packaging.
Whilst PromoNow cannot provide legal advice, we can go over some existing short terms & conditions which have already been written to decipher what sort of format and mechanics your brand should take when writing these terms. PromoNow works closely with promotional legal partners such as PromoVeritas; the best way to ensure compliance.
To start, many brands opt to save packaging space by writing in a ‘noted’ form that’s very common in brand promotions and on-pack promotions:
“18+. GB only. Purchase necessary. HH:MM DD/MM/YYYY - HH:MM DD/YY/YYYY. Scan QR code or go to www.promo-now.com, enter personal details and URN code inside the box to see if you’ve won. Internet access required. One entry per day. 100 prizes available to be won, including experience day voucher (value £150), and gift cards (value £10). Unclaimed prizes roll over to Mop-Up Draw. See www.promo-now.com/terms for full T&Cs. Promoter: PromoNow, Spring Meadows Technology Park, Paradise Lane, Waltham Chase, United Kingdom, SO32 2TH.”
This layout is useful in saving space on the product packaging but also can effectively cover most if not all significant terms and conditions.
In Kellogg’s promotion in partnership with EFL, there were 2 sections for the short terms & conditions on the pack. On-pack, the following terms were covered:
When writing short terms & conditions some brands are more limited by space - often brands include a sticker or a bottleneck tag as their only form of promotional material and space on-pack and opt not to change the usual packaging.
In these cases, the space that brands can utilise to include the terms & conditions is much more limited. Still, it is essential for brands to include critical terms and make the most of the promotional space they have. Whilst the ASA will forgive a brand for not including all significant conditions if there is no space on the marketing material - this rarely happens.
Brands need to be vigilant and include as many significant terms as they can - if there are limited ways, there are certain methods that you can take to make the terms fit the given space without omitting critical information. This may mean changing the font size; utilising both the back and front of a piece of a sticker or tag, or further shortening and simplifying the terms to fit.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that your promotions should be run in a way that keeps shoppers satisfied and happy. The ASA largely relies on consumers sending in complaints and so many promotions manage to avoid rulings despite not being completely compliant.
However, these brand promotions that avoid ASA rulings are not the rule but instead, the exceptions.
Consumers may not initially find issues with a brand not including all significant terms and conditions on-pack but will surely find issues and find complaints if the promotion is poorly run. If it becomes difficult for them to enter the promotion; if their entry is not valid due to unspecified and unlisted reasons; or if the terms and conditions are not easily accessible - that is all it takes to lead to a complaint to the ASA and an unfavourable ruling. It must be noted that one complaint is enough for a brand to be subject to an ASA investigation.
Data and legal compliance should be taken seriously.
For brands unsure if their terms and conditions meet the criteria for ‘compliant,’ some agencies will offer a service for writing and drafting terms & conditions. Promotions Interactive for example has the option to draft promotional terms and conditions which is also checked with a leading legal specialist - the service also includes a global professional indemnity cover.
PromoNow, our SaaS platform, has legal compliance at every step and has years of experience and expertise built in. Our understanding of best practices means we not only provide options for legal compliance - but also options to engage and make the shopper experience exceptional and fluid.
