ASA upholds complaint

One complaint of two made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on an Optical Express laser surgery price comparison advertisement has been upheld.

An email stated 'Exclusive half price laser eye surgery available in May. Our most advanced treatment, CustomVue Wavefront Lasik with Intralase at up to half price'. A click-through link led to advertisement (b) on OE's website, headlined 'Half-price offer our most advanced treatment* at up to half price'.

The complainant said the promotion in both ads was misleading because it implied an up-to-half-price saving on the price customers would usually expect to pay.

OE said the claims in (a) should be read in conjunction with ad (b) via the web page. 'The Optimax equivalent of the advertised treatment was priced at £3,770 for both eyes, which represented a saving of 39 per cent on the Optimax price and the Ultralase equivalent, Ultra Elite with Lasik, was priced at £4,590 for both eyes, which represented a saving of 50 per cent,' said OE. It added: 'The half price offer was explicitly stated to be a comparison with the maximum competitor prices for equivalent treatments and that was set out in the table'