In its commercial communication applied from 13 February 2023, Lidl Magyarország Kereskedelmi Bt. made the following claim suggesting market leadership: “Lidl is the cheapest food chain”, which message was not adequately supported, as the supermarket chain had supported this slogan with a third-party survey, however the survey conducted by Pénzcentrum was subjective and non-representative, so it was not suitable for an objective, factual verification of the company’s claim of market leadership. Moreover, the survey covered an earlier period (2 December 2022 to 30 January 2023) than the publication of the commercial communication.
Due to the misleading and presumably untrue content of the message, the Competition Authority (GVH) imposed a fine of HUF 90 million on the supermarket chain in the recently concluded investigation, based on the cost of the advertising campaign.