"Get a great offer for PLN 29.90 and receive as many as 10 beers in a small, convenient can. Come to Żabka and choose from foreign offers… Important: you can pick up the beer within 20 days of activating the offer" – this is the content encouraging application users mobile Żabka store to take advantage of the offer, which some called an "alcohol subscription".
– It's like a gym membership, only the one offered by a chain of stores does not help but is harmful to your health. The design of the promotional offer may cause the customer to buy the number of beers he is entitled to, regardless of his willingness to drink them, commented Julia Pankiewicz, a psychiatry resident at one of the Masovian hospitals.
Jakub Kosikowski, spokesman for the Supreme Medical Chamber, also criticized Żabka's offer on social media.
"I didn't believe it, I had to check. @ZabkaPolska, are you sure the ceiling won't fall on your head? Beer on subscription? Next will be monkeys? Or maybe you want to cooperate, I suggest marijuana, oxycodone and fentanyl as next products," the doctor asked ironically.
However, the store chain argued that the advertising did not violate the regulations.
– The offer is consistent with applicable law and is addressed only to adult users of the Żappka application. Unlike other similar offers on the market, customers can pick up a maximum of four products per day, said Żabka representatives.
– The Advertising Council cannot comment because it does not have such powers – says Lucyna Pruska from the Advertising Council. He explains that the Advertising Ethics Committee is responsible for assessing complaints from consumers and entrepreneurs about promotional materials. However, you must submit a formal complaint to the Council using the form available on the Council's website.
In the past, KER criticized one of Żabka's advertisements. In May last year the chain of stores withdrew the offer that included the possibility of purchasing a hot dog for PLN 1 when purchasing cigarettes. The chain withdrew the advertisement shortly after the Ministry of Health became interested in it and threatened to report it to the prosecutor's office. Half a year passed from the complaint about the ad to its assessment by KER as violating the code of ethics.
– It turns out that even such blatant promotions can be considered legal. This must finally be changed – appealed the doctor. Pankiewicz.
