SECTION 2 (P2)
Constraints and Limitations to marketing activities
Introduction
In this section of my report I will describe the constraints and limitations both legal and voluntary, that Balmerlawn Hotel and Innocent must be aware of when marketing their products and services and I provide examples. Descriptions Legal | Example | Data Protection Act 1998: This Act requires all organisations that process personal data on individuals to be listed in the register of data controllers, held by the Information Commissioner. The type of data referred to is: Information recorded or processed by computer Information that is part of a relevant filing system or forms part of an accessible record (e.g. health records, social service records). | The Data Protection Act applies to innocent after looking on their website and prize draws you can enter I found a heading saying “how are your details used?” The company innocent respond by saying The Winner agrees that Innocent may use and publicly display their first name, age and town/city where he/she lives and on its products for the purposes of publicising the Prize Draw. But they insist that they will not post personal data (as defined in the Data Protection Act 1998) in relation to entrants on the Website or anywhere else without the express permission of the entrants’ parent or guardian. By doing this innocent are keeping in the terms of the data protection act, however if they were to sell on other contestant details, they would be in breach of this act. Innocent will therefore have to make sure they full look after everyone’s contact details and do not pass them on! | Sales of Good Act: this law states that in every transaction for the sale and supply of goods there are certain terms which do apply. This means that the customers has automatic rights even if they are not specifically stated, these right are that the good must be: Correspond with the description Be of satisfactory quality Be fit for the purpose | Smoothies are Innocent's primary product. The Innocent smoothie consists of whole crushed fruit and juices, but other ingredients. A smoothie also counts towards two of the 5 a day as a 250ml smoothie contains at least one portion of whole crushed fruit (80g) and one portion of juice (150ml). Innocent also makes smoothies in little bottles and bigger cartons; smoothies, fruit tubes and juice for kids; a not-from-concentrate juice range, and veg pots, a range of ready meals. The Sales of Good Act ensures that all the products innocent put to market are to the quality stated above and if they were to breach this then they could find themselves in seriously big trouble. | The Trade Descriptions 1968 is an Act of the UK Parliament which prevents manufacturers, retailers or service industry providers from applying false information relating to their products and services. It is illegal to falsely describe the products or services you sell, whether you do so verbally, advertising over the radio, television, posters or magazines. If you do so as a business you could find yourself with a criminal record. | Innocent as a whole do a lot of marketing and advertising of themselves, however when doing this they have to ensure that they are not going against the trade descriptions act. Within this they are not allowed to apply false information about their products. So when advertising themselves on the radio and television they have got a long list of rules to follow on what they can and can’t say. They have to be careful that everything they do say is 100% truthful in relation to innocent. There was a case when innocent had lied about the content in their fruit smoothies. Innocent have a label around all their bottles stating exactly what fruits are in the drinks, however they had falsely stated the right percentages, this was against the trade discrimination act. And they were later sewed for this. |

Descriptions Other | Example | Advertising Standards Authority: the Advertising Standards Authority is an independent organization which checks that advertisements do not lie or make false claims about a product. Anyone can ask the Advertising Standards Authority to investigate an advertisement. If there is a problem with it, the Authority may then tell the company to change or remove it. | Innocent have been in two cases with the Advertising Standards Authority in which they have had to either remove a product or ensure that changes are right to make it acceptable to this authority. There was a case In October 2007 when Innocent was warned by the Advertising Standards Authority for making unsubstantiated claims about the health benefits of their "superfoods" smoothies stating that their claims could not be backed up by medical science and ordering Innocent to not repeat them. In 2007 the European Union passed a new law, that would take effect from 2009, which required companies labelling their products as "superfoods" to justify statements that their products are "superfoods", "healthy" or "good for you". As innocent did what they were told in the end it was passed by. Another case appeared when innocent launched a TV Ad, for smoothies, it showed a carton in a field, surrounded by a pile of fruit. The voice-over stated “Hello! We're Innocent. Do you sometimes find it difficult to get your 5-A-Day? Seven viewers objected that the claim "Each glass contains two whole portions. Two of your 5-a-day" was misleading, because they believed that smoothies counted as one portion of fruit only, regardless of the volume in which they were consumed. Innocent said the Department of Health had recently changed their guidance on 5-a-day relating to smoothies and they had worked with those organisations and nutritionists to establish that the 250 ml Innocent smoothies could be considered to be two portions. They provided documentation outlining the consultation process and in support of the claim. The claim was dropped when innocent had proved valid documentations. | Food Standards Agency: The Food Standards Agency is responsible for food safety and food hygiene across the UK. The Food standards agency work with local authorities to enforce food safety regulations and have staff who work in UK meat plants to check that the requirements of the regulations are being met. | Innocent’s food and drinks all go through the foods standards agency. Their products are tested by The British Soft Drink Association and Food Standard Agency. Innocents raw products and all the ingredients are rigorously checked at every level of manufacturing by the expert food quality specialist and all their raw materials come from the reliable suppliers who also strongly maintain the international food safety standard. | Pressure groups-are a Non-profit voluntary organization whose members have a common cause for which they seek to influence political or corporate decisionmakers to achieve a declared objective. | Pressure groups affect innocent as a company because they want to ensure that innocents products are ethically ranged and sustainable. Innocent as a company strive to do business in a more enlightened way, where they take responsibility for the impact of their business on society and the environment, aiming to move these impacts from negative to neutral or better still positive. It's part of their quest to become a truly sustainable business where they have a net positive effect on the world around us. Pressure groups want to ensure that innocent are doing everything the state to be doing. |