The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld three complaints against Aldi for misleading advertising regarding its Christmas dinner prices in a national press ad.
Aldi's ad claimed to offer ‘Britain’s Cheapest Christmas Dinner’, comparing its prices to Sainsbury's, and using a ‘2022 Price Locked’ claim, all of which were challenged by Sainsbury’s.
The ASA found these claims misleading for various reasons, including lack of clarity on the comparison basis, the negligible price difference with Lidl, and inaccurate representation of the price lock.
Aldi's defence cited reliance on a third-party comparison by Which?, yet the ASA noted this comparison only included seven supermarkets and highlighted a negligible price difference with Lidl, undermining Aldi's claim to be the cheapest option.
“We concluded that the claim 'THE HOME OF BRITAIN’S CHEAPEST CHRISTMAS DINNER' and the claims specifically comparing the price of Christmas dinner at Aldi with Sainsbury’s were misleading and had not been substantiated,” said the watchdog.