Misleading Advertisements

British Gold Sovereigns An everlasting treasure. Available from only £65.00

Gold Sovereign Coins from £35 Each
Way back in 2000, this was the incredible headline of a newspaper advert we saw.
This price was too good to be true, particularly as it was below the scrap gold value.

At It Again On Google?
Now in December 2010, we notice the Royal Mint are still at it, publishing misleading adverts, but this time they appear to have got up to date, and are using Google adverts either instead of or in addition to newspaper adverts.
We do not know whether internet advertising is monitored or controlled by the Advertising Standards Authority, but even if it is not, it does not seem right and proper to us that advertisers should use it as an opportunity to misinform and mislead.

Who is This Villain?
In 2000, we scrutinised the advert carefully, wondering what sort of charlatan or fraudster would use such a misleading claim in their advert. To our astonishment it turned out to to be none other than the Royal Mint!
We, at Chard, believe in honesty in all our dealings, and try hard to keep all our wording as accurate and unambiguous as possible, idiot-proof being our somewhat optimistic aim. Naturally we do not expect all others to use similar high standards, but we do expect bodies such as the Royal Mint to set a good example in their advertising, after all, if we cannot trust their written word, how can we trust the quality of their products, or their other ethical standards? They are, directly or indirectly, one of our major suppliers, and it is a potential cause of concern to us that a major supplier should publish such an unfair and misleading advert.
In 2000, we did not need to scrutinise the advert as closely to discover that it too was by the Royal Mint.

The Get-Out Clause
We guess their get-out clause will be that quarter sovereigns are sovereigns. Perhaps their marketing department have been taking lessons from Dixon's.
We intend when we have time, the bring the advert directly to the attention of the Royal Mint, and possibly to the BNTA.
We assume that when they do reply, they will say that quarter sovereigns are a type of sovereign. Perhaps this explanation would stand up in a Court of Law, but we are doubtful, and we still believe that the wording in the advert would be more appropriate to Barnum and Bailey than The Old Bailey.
We may be slightly old fashioned, but we believe government agencies should set a shining example of honesty in all their dealings including advertising.

What's Wrong

So what's wrong with the offending headline and advert?
We believe this advert causes problems or harm in at least three different ways:-

1. Customers buying as a result of this advert, may order a quarter sovereign at £65 mistakenly believing they are buying a sovereign.
   Because they are buying from a government agency, they may believe that the advert is factually accurate and unambiguous,
2. Other dealers may be harmed because people may be mislead into believing that their prices are higher than the Royal Mint's (Our price for 2011 coins is £255 for sovereigns, £130 for half sovereigns, £79 for proof quarter sovereigns.)
3. The general public may be mislead into believing that the price of sovereigns is around £65.

Legal Decent & Honest?
This is one of a number of pages where we reproduce misleading adverts by our competitors, with our comments about how we believe they misinform.

Gold Sovereign Coins from £35 Each
The year 2000 original.