P&G rapped for running out of samples in Lenor promotion

by Sarah Woods, Brand Republic 17-May-06, 08:30

LONDON - Procter & Gamble has come under fire from the advertising watchdog, after it ran out of free samples of its Lenor in the Pink fabric softener advertised in a television campaign.

The TV ad for the softener offered a free sample of the product by visiting Lenor's website.

However, a viewer was disappointed when she logged on to claim her sample and found that stocks of the product had been exhausted.

P&G believed it had overestimated demand for the free samples on the basis of consumer response to the Bold 2-in-1 Lavender & Camomile free sample campaign.

The FMGC giant said it did not include the "subject to availability" criteria in the ad because it had tried to ensure it always had enough stock available.

The Advertising Standards Authority agreed that it was often difficult to accurately predict consumer response to promotions, but said it expects advertisers to have sufficient stock to meet demand.

Although the free samples ran out near the end of the campaign, the ASA pointed out that the ad continued to be broadcast when no stock was available.

The ASA said: "We considered the ad should have been removed from broadcast as soon as it became apparent that there was not sufficient stock to meet demand."

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