Asda ran a campaign comprising three national press ads and one TV ad, based on research conducted by The Grocer magazine. The study concluded that Asda beat eight other retailers, including Tesco, on the pricing of a basket of 33 products. The survey is conducted regularly and Asda has come out on top for the past eight years.
Tesco argued that the amount of products and the number of retailers in the sample was too small for Asda to be crowned accurately as the lowest-priced retailer. It also argued that Asda's claim that it was officially Britain's lowest priced supermarket implied misleadingly that the survey was carried out by a Government department or industry body.
The ASA said: 'The Authority recognised that The Grocer survey was an independent survey that was respected in the supermarket industry, but considered it too limited a price comparison to substantiate the advertiser's claim to be 'Officially the Lowest Priced Supermarket'.'
Asda said it would continue to use The Grocer survey. In a statement, it said: 'The ASA ruling won't affect any current Asda advertising as it relates to a complaint made by Tesco 13 months ago - we haven't used the word 'official' for 12 months now. But regardless of Tesco's mischief-making, that hasn't stopped us telling their customers and ours that we are still the best value supermarket in the UK. For 13 months they've been trying to persuade the ASA, for PR purposes, that we shouldn't be able to use The Grocer pricing survey. That's because we keep winning it week after week.'
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