// Advertising watchdog rejects Aldi’s complaint against Tesco’s price match campaign
// Tesco launched the campaign in March last year to compete with discounters
// Aldi argued consumers could be mistaken by the ad
Aldi’s complaint against Tesco’s ‘price match’ campaign has been dropped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The discount grocer complained about a Tesco press ad which appeared last July, as Tesco launched the campaign to compete with discounters.
Aldi argued the ad was misleading because it did not explicitly set out whether the branded products shown had been priced matched against the same brands at Aldi.
READ MORE: Caterpillars in court: What retailers can learn from M&S and Aldi’s copycat row
The German discounter argued consumers could be mistaken into thinking they could buy the branded products from Tesco at prices matched against Aldi own-label.
However, the ASA considered the ad to have made clear the brands had been added to an existing campaign, while consumers would be aware Aldi sold both brands and own-label.
It took into account smaller print saying “hundreds” of products had been compared with “comparable” ones.
The watchdog decided consumers would understand Tesco’s price match claims did not apply to all of Aldi’s range.
It also ruled that brands had been matched against the same product “or in rare circumstances, the nearest comparable product at Aldi if the branded product was not available”.
“We did not consider that consumers would interpret the ad as suggesting that the branded items shown were being price matched with Aldi own-brand items nor that consumers would be able to obtain lots of ‘big brands’ at Aldi own-label prices,” the ASA said.
“We considered that the ad made clear to consumers the price match was in relation to a selection of products rather than in relation to Aldi’s entire product range, and branded products would be matched with the same branded product where it was available at both stores.
“We therefore concluded the ad was not likely to mislead.”
Aldi said it was “disappointed” by the verdict.
Tesco launched the campaign in March last year, while fellow Big 4 grocer Sainsbury’s also launched an Aldi Price Match campaign in February this year.
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If Aldi wants to differentiate it from Tesco et al it could start by improving it’s awful customer service, stop making pot shots on social media about caterpillar cakes and refocus on quality – have noticed a number of Aldi items which have a “new improved recipe” yet actually are a degradation in quality. I think they may be getting a bit slack…
Tesco quality is awful since they did the Aldi price match. Their frozen and fresh foods have dropped in quality to the point I’ve stopped shopping at Tesco and don’t have a local Aldi so I can’t compare. Regardless, Tesco quality isn’t the same as before this promotion and they should stop worrying about Aldi and go back to the store they were before. Also, the club card promotions look more like the Lidl logo.
They’re a pair of retailing God’s, and we wish them well.