Costa, the coffee shop chain owned by Whitbread, could come under fire over its claim in its marketing campaign that “7 out of 10 coffee lovers prefer Costa”.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has concluded in a draft report that Costa’s campaign “fails to pass muster on a number of points” although it has not released its final recommendations yet, reports The Times.
It is understood that rival coffee chain Starbucks filed the complaint to the ASA saying that the adverts based on a survey of 334 coffee shop users were misleading and misrepresented the basis of the claims.
While the Costa campaign gives the impression that both its shops and coffee were preferred by drinkers, experts have said that in the small print the company points out that that the claim relates only to a Costa cappuccino compared to a Starbucks or Nero cappuccino.
It is thought that the ASA council will decide if there has been a breach of contract of the advertising codes in the next few days.
