Jenny's Slap on the Wrist from Advertising Standards

Jenny has this knack of starting promotions but never really persisting with them. In the last few weeks this has included her "Christmas Challenge", which as mentioned in a previous post, appeared to be nothing more than her beginning to use the "Booster" product that JP had started selling. The launch date came and went without incident, and nothing has been said of it since.

This also include's Jenny's attempt to stir up attention by posting a fitness jpeg that had a list of exercises she promised to do all of based on each comment the post received. Thus for every comment she would do 20 star jumps, 10 sit-ups, 30 squats, you get the idea. She received 7/8 comments, then said she would carry through with her challenge the next day... and never did. So that was another empty promotion.

Of particular significance was Jenny's relatively short run of doing competitions. You get the idea, like and share the post, enter the competition, hopefully you win a prize. Nothing amazing, pretty much every company does this on social media from time to time and Jenny was no different.

That was, until, she posted this:

My first thought upon reading that was that she had totally lost the plot and was going to be giving away pretty much all of her capsules to people who liked and shared that status. It does, after all, say that this is a freebie promotion for one month's supply of capsules. So basically, like and share, and get your capsules, right?

Well, it worked, people were liking and sharing that post. Buoyed by this reaction, Jenny continued her pitch:

 And again, people did. They wanted their free month's supply of capsules so liked and shared that status. I mean, it's free pills!

Along came the deadline...

 

 

*CAR SCREECH*

Sorry, what?

"will announce the winner of the vineyard capsules tomorrow!

"Thank you to everyone who entered

"Look out for more prizes soon"

"winner... entered... prizes..."

Okay, so despite her previous posts clearly saying this was a freebie for one months supply with no mention of this being a competition, it turns out that this was, apparently, another competition. So no, you didn't get a free supply for liking and sharing the post, as she advertised, you simply got the opportunity to get a free month's supply.

Call me petty - it could well be that she is simply an utter idiot who didn't understand what she was typing - but to me this was out and out false advertising whether she meant it or not. As a result I contacted Advertising Standards and was absolutely amazed when I got this response (red are my edits):

Dear BAJ,

 

Your Complaint: Jenny

 

Thank you for your continued patience and sending the ads to us. I note you raised concerns that Jenny's ads do not make clear that the promotion was a competition, and that only a few individuals would win the prize.

 

We think you’ve made a valid point, and with a view to acting quickly, we contacted the advertiser and requested changes.  I’m happy to advise that the advertiser has provided their assurance that they will ensure all their future promotions will clearly state where there are only a select number of winners.

 

We will now close our files on this matter. Basic information including the company name, the industry sector and the medium in which the ad appeared will appear on our website... in a list with other advertisers that have co-operated in resolving complaints.

 

I do hope that this outcome is satisfactory to you, and finally I’d like to thank you for taking the time and trouble to bring this matter to our attention.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Betty Smith (edit)

Complaints Executive

 

So, there you have it. Jenny either let her dishonesty get to her head to squeeze out reactions on her page, or she was so stupid she didn't understand basic advertisement ethics. Either way, just like her "Christmas Challenge", just like her exercise-for-comments pledge, the promotions have simply disappeared. It appears that the chances of winning a free supply of capsules... are gone... *sniff*.

 

Facebook page count: 558. I think we're down to the base number now consisting of her friends, family, fellow distributors and people oblivious to the fact that they're members of this page.