Wippit escapes ASA ad rap

Online music service Wippit has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a promotion in a national newspaper received one complaint.

An advert on the cover of the Daily Star offered readers £5 to spend at Wippit if they logged on that day, making £4.99 albums such as Take That's Beautiful World and Keane's Under The Iron Sea free to download.

A single reader complained that the offer was misleading because it was for a £5 discount, and not a free album.

When the reader attempted to claim one of the albums pictured on the promotion, he was told that he could receive a discount against an album that cost more than £5, but could not download an album costing £5, or less, for free.

Wippit and Daily Star owner Express Newspapers were investigated under the CAP Code covering 'Truthfulness and Sales Promotions - Front Page Flashes'.

Both parties argued that the £5 was redeemable against any downloadable album on the Wippit website, which included a selection of albums priced at £4.99.

Both the Daily Star and Wippit stated that they had received no other complaints about the offer.

In clearing both parties, the ASA cited proof provided by Wippit that a large number of users had used the £5 credit to download albums priced at £4.99.

"The ASA noted that the substantiation provided by Wippit had shown that a large number of customers had been able to download the albums pictured in the promotion for free," said the ASA ruling.

"Although we were concerned that the complainant had been given the wrong information when he contacted Wippit, we concluded that it was possible to use the £5 offer to get an album for free as had been claimed."

The complaint was not upheld by the ASA and no further action was taken.