The circulation promotion worked almost too well. Too bad about the premiums

For the Conde Nast circulation boffins in Britain, there was good news and bad news. The good news was that their subscription promotion for House and Garden magazine went quite well, exceeding expectation by 50%. The bad news, according to a story in the Press Gazette, was that they ran out of the advertised premiums -- Molton Brown toiletries -- and tried substituting other things (in this case, a notebook). As a result, they got their knuckles rapped.

The Advertising Standards Authority told the publisher it was duty bound to issue substitute gifts of an equivalent value after receiving complaints from a customer who signed up to receive 12 issues of the magazine and free toiletries, only to get a notebook in lieu of the advertised gift.

The publisher said the notebook sent to the complainant was a limited edition item specifically designed for House and Garden that could retail for substantially more than the toiletries offered.

"We acknowledged House and Garden's explanation that the decorator's notebook sent to the complainant as a substitute gift had been sent following a handling error," [said the ASA] but nevertheless considered that, because not all subscribers had received a free gift of equivalent value to the Molton Brown gift advertised, the promotion had not dealt fairly with consumers."