Aldi earns watchdog rebuke over shopping advert claims

Aldi tells Britons to “spend a little, live a lot”, but the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled the German supermarket must spend a little more time thinking about its marketing after ruling three of its ads were misleading.

One on TV claimed a shopping trolley full of food cost £70 at Aldi and £98 at the “big four” supermarkets — but rival Morrisons and two members of the public complained to the ASA that it wasn’t clear Aldi had compared its own-label goods with branded ones from its rivals.

The German discount chain said it had on-screen small-print saying: “Other supermarkets may sell ‘own brand’ products at different prices.”

But the ASA rapped Aldi’s knuckles, saying: “We acknowledged that Aldi stated they had not meant the comparisons to represent a ‘typical’ weekly shop.” It ruled that the three adverts must not appear again in the press or on TV.

Aldi is sponsoring Team GB at the Olympics.