Advertising sales without an end date

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint about an advertisement for a retirement clearance sale which did not have an end date. The complainant said that the advertisement had appeared for more than a year and the advertiser had continued to buy stock. The advertiser said the retirement process was taking longer because of the economy and he had to re-stock everyday consumables to help clear slow-moving items. Because the sale had continued for longer than 6 to 12 months, and the advertiser had continued to re-stock some items, the ASA ruled that the advertisement breached rules 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 16.8 (Availability of products) of the CAP Code. It is important to note that advertising sales without an end date, or claiming that you are about to cease trading when you are not, is also likely to be an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.