Sometimes you find something in your postbox of which it is not immediately clear that it is advertising. With the intention to awaken your curiosity. However advertising should be clearly recognizable as such. That is one of the important requirements from the Dutch Advertising Code. Of course advertisers want to incite and therefor intend to push the boundaries of the permissible. This was also the case for Gamma.
Last summer Gamma (a Dutch do-it-yourself store) sent unaddressed postcards. The front of the postcard showed the design of a unhappy looking bear wearing a backpack and holding a flower. And above the text “Sorry…”. At the revers left side of the card an apparently handwritten text said “Sorry…for any inconvenience, we are going to rebuild in the coming week” and “Greetings the neighbours” and “P.S. GAMMA gives huge discounts this weekend”. On the revers right side of the card three action coupons were added.
The complainant was under the presumption to have received a genuine postcard by his neighbours and therefore submitted a complaint at the Dutch Advertising Code Committee (RCC). The RCC however rejected the complaint: Despite the fact that the front side of the card could for a moment give the impression that the recipient was dealing with a genuine postcard, it became unmistakably clear at the revers side that he was dealing with an advertisement from Gamma. According to the RCC this was particularly clear because of the eye catching action coupons. Such coupons do not tend to be part of a normal postcard.
The recipient can be fooled for a short moment. As long as immediately afterwards it is clear that the recipient is dealing with an advertisement. However, it should not be very difficult for the consumer to figure out that he is dealing with an advertisement. According to earlier decisions of the RCC for advertisements that are sent in an envelope it applies that it should be made clear from the envelope that it is advertising . It is too late if this only becomes clear from the content of the envelop.
Read the decision (in Dutch) here.
Kim Braber – advertising law attorney
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Sometimes you find something in your postbox of which it is not immediately clear that it is advertising. With the intention to awaken your curiosity. However advertising should be clearly recognizable as such. That is one of the important requirements from the Dutch Advertising Code. Of course advertisers want to incite and therefor intend to push the boundaries of the permissible. This was also the case for Gamma.
Last summer Gamma (a Dutch do-it-yourself store) sent unaddressed postcards. The front of the postcard showed the design of a unhappy looking bear wearing a backpack and holding a flower. And above the text “Sorry…”. At the revers left side of the card an apparently handwritten text said “Sorry…for any inconvenience, we are going to rebuild in the coming week” and “Greetings the neighbours” and “P.S. GAMMA gives huge discounts this weekend”. On the revers right side of the card three action coupons were added.
The complainant was under the presumption to have received a genuine postcard by his neighbours and therefore submitted a complaint at the Dutch Advertising Code Committee (RCC). The RCC however rejected the complaint: Despite the fact that the front side of the card could for a moment give the impression that the recipient was dealing with a genuine postcard, it became unmistakably clear at the revers side that he was dealing with an advertisement from Gamma. According to the RCC this was particularly clear because of the eye catching action coupons. Such coupons do not tend to be part of a normal postcard.
The recipient can be fooled for a short moment. As long as immediately afterwards it is clear that the recipient is dealing with an advertisement. However, it should not be very difficult for the consumer to figure out that he is dealing with an advertisement. According to earlier decisions of the RCC for advertisements that are sent in an envelope it applies that it should be made clear from the envelope that it is advertising . It is too late if this only becomes clear from the content of the envelop.
Read the decision (in Dutch) here.
Kim Braber – advertising law attorney