Orphanides apologises for misleading detergent ad

ORPHANIDES supermarkets have publicly apologised for a television advert considered misleading by many of their customers and by the state Consumer Protection service.

Customers complained that the ad – plugging a one-day offer of half-price detergent – failed to make it clear that you had to spend £19 on other goods before the offer was valid.

Supermarket chain boss, Christos Orphanides, appeared on Sigma television on Wednesday night to offer an apology to customers for the advert. He said the cost of television spots was such (a prime-time television advert can cost £45 per second) that the chain did not want to extend the ad by explaining the terms of the offer.

A message across the bottom of the screen during the advert said only that further information was available at stores.

Consumer protection service chief George Mitides said earlier this week the Orphanides ad would be one of the first things he would look at if the House plenum approved tough new advertising standards legislation yesterday afternoon.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.