Hearts face probe over ‘misleading’ marketing

THE advertising watchdog has launched a probe into a marketing campaign at Hearts following complaints that fans had been “misled” over ticket prices.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is investigating a radio and direct mailing ad promoting a new season-ticket sales plan which claimed to offer fans the lowest “starting price for four years”.

Under the new “dynamic pricing system”, ticket prices rose over time depending on demand and supporters were urged to buy early to maximise savings. But after just a few hours of the deal being launched, average ticket prices had risen to roughly the same as last season.

Hearts apologised to fans and said it was “unlikely” they would use the system next year.

An ASA spokeswoman said: “I can confirm that we are investigating complaints we received regarding an ad concerning Heart of Midlothian’s season tickets.”

Hearts were unavailable for comment.