Will The Advertising Standards Agency Rule Against Ebay's Knickerless Celebrities Ads?
Settled as No
The ASA refuses to act. Letter published in background.
Background:
Background: eBay recently got into hot water in France when a court in Paris awarded damages of 40 million euros ($63 million) to luxury goods group, LVMH, over eBay auctions of counterfeit products. eBay's defense in that case was that it can't police all the products that are sold on its site. However that defense is of no use when the activity in question is eBay's own advertising.
If you have ever conducted a search on Google or browsed the web you are likely to have seen an eBay ad for random items that eBay almost certainly don't have. Pretty novel marketing technique eh? Well yes, but it also happens to be illegal in the UK where it is in contravention of the Advertising Standards Agency's (ASA) rules on advertising (rule 16.5 on 'switch selling' in the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing).
Exhibit A - found on Lipstick.com on May 15th
However clicking on the link brings us to exhibit B:
I believe that eBay should stop switch selling and have therefore lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Agency (I also think they should keep their grubby hands off Craigslist but that is another matter). Will the ASA uphold this complaint and ban eBay from using this technique again in the UK?
Of course, there could be a third outcome which is eBay make good their promise and actually start selling knickerless celebrities!
UPDATE: No action. Here is the letter:
If you have ever conducted a search on Google or browsed the web you are likely to have seen an eBay ad for random items that eBay almost certainly don't have. Pretty novel marketing technique eh? Well yes, but it also happens to be illegal in the UK where it is in contravention of the Advertising Standards Agency's (ASA) rules on advertising (rule 16.5 on 'switch selling' in the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing).
Exhibit A - found on Lipstick.com on May 15th
However clicking on the link brings us to exhibit B:
I believe that eBay should stop switch selling and have therefore lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Agency (I also think they should keep their grubby hands off Craigslist but that is another matter). Will the ASA uphold this complaint and ban eBay from using this technique again in the UK?
Of course, there could be a third outcome which is eBay make good their promise and actually start selling knickerless celebrities!
UPDATE: No action. Here is the letter:
Settlement details:To be settled by the ASA's ruling which will be communicated to the question creator (who will not participate on this question).
Forecast history %
| Yes |
| |||
| No |
|
Settled as No on Tue 5th Aug 2008 12:45pm PST
- Activity: H$7,014 |
- Predictions: 42 |
Comments: 5
Suspend date: Sun 31st Aug 2008 11:59pm PST
Settlement date: Tue 5th Aug 2008 12:45pm PST
Initial likelihoods: Yes: 30%
Action history:
Settled as 'No' Tue 5th Aug 2008 12:45pm PST by 
nigeleccles![[Admin]](http://www.hubdub.com/images/icon_admin.gif "This user is an admin")
: The ASA refuses to act. Letter published in background.
nigeleccles: The ASA refuses to act. Letter published in background. 
Suspend date: Sun 31st Aug 2008 11:59pm PST
Settlement date: Tue 5th Aug 2008 12:45pm PST details 
Get widget!Predictions (42)
chrisfmasse
predicted No (H$20 at 60%)
bout3fitty
predicted Yes (H$500 at 40%)
thegodfather
jenjen
predicted No (H$100 at 61%)
anaverageamerican
predicted Yes (H$20 at 39%)Comments (5)
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(why does it suspend in five weeks? -- I would think something like this would take longer.)
I've just found out knickerless celebrities aren't the only thing they are pretending to sell. Anyone for buying 'Steve Irwin dead'?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/05/ebay_steve_irwin/
http://www.whattheheck.com/ebay/secret.html
For those who are looking for less than the secret to life...
http://www.whattheheck.com/ebay/bigzero.html
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