Mattress brand Origin Sleep has been told to make sure future adverts are not misleading with regards to savings claims.
A website for Origin Sleep, https://originmattress.co.uk, seen between November and December 2025, featured a banner, seen on 22 December 2025, on the home page that stated “SAVE UP TO 27% WITH 2 FREE PILLOWS WORTH £196*. ENDS 00DAYS 14HRS 56MINS 31SECS (i)”. Text underneath said “BOXING DAY MEGA SAVINGS. SAVE UP TO 2…WORTH £196*”. The text was obscured by a countdown appeared stating “HURRY! UP TO 27% OFF PROMO ENDS […]”. It then listed the countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds.
A second banner, seen on 22 December 2025, on the home page stated “SAVE UP TO 34% OFF. WITH UP TO 2 FREE PILLOWS WORTH £196*”. Beside it a countdown clock listed the countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds.
Text in the body of the page stated “BOXING DAY MEGA SAVINGS” and then featured the same text as the banner. Beneath that a countdown clock appeared stating “HURRY! UP TO 34% OFF ENDS […]”, It then listed the countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds.
Text on the home page, seen on 29 December 2025, stated “NEW YEAR’S SAVINGS. SAVE UP TO 33% OFF. WITH UP TO 2 FREE PILLOWS WORTH £196*”. Beneath that a countdown clock appeared stating “HURRY! UP TO 33% OFF ENDS […]”. It then listed the countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds.
The home page, from 10 November 2025 to 29 December 2025, further included the product webpage images for the “Hybrid Mattress”, “Hybrid Pro Mattress” and “LumbarCloud Mattress”. The pages below the images showed a struck through “from” price, a bold red selling price and the difference in the two prices in a red box with text that stated “SAVE £XX”.
Simba Sleep Ltd challenged whether:
1. the claim “UP TO 27% WITH 2 FREE PILLOWS WORTH £196*” on the home page implied the mattress was discounted by 27% and was independent of the “free” pillows and was misleading;
2. the claim “NEW YEAR’S SAVINGS. SAVE UP TO 33% OFF” on the home page appeared as soon as the Boxing Day “SAVE UP TO 34% OFF” offer finished and was misleading; and
3. the reference prices and associated savings claims for the “Hybrid Mattress”, “Hybrid Pro Mattress” and “LumbarCloud Mattress” were misleading and could be substantiated.
In response, Origin Sleep UK Ltd (Origin) said the claim “UP TO 27% WITH 2 FREE PILLOWS WORTH £196*” was not misleading because the basis of the savings claim clearly explained via a pop up and on the product page.
They explained that the claim was not presented as a standalone mattress price reduction but instead was the total value of the promotional bundle. The bundle was the mattress in combination with two free pillows.
They said that the claim, which appeared sitewide, included an “(i)” button. When that was clicked on a pop up appeared which clearly showed the mechanics of the offer. Origin provided an example of similar text from another promotion that stated “The savings shown reflect the retail value of the complimentary products included with your purchase. For example if the mattress retails for £300 and you receive £100 worth of free add-ons, that amounts to savings of 25%!”.
Origin further explained that the product page had the price of the complimentary pillows, visual representation of the pillows and included text that stated “What is the basis of this discount? The savings shown reflect the retail value of the complimentary products included with your purchase”. They said all consumers would have seen that text before making a purchase. In addition, if someone unticked the free products on the product page the price of the mattress was shown.
They said savings based on bundled value were commonly used in retail promotions. They stated that as long as the saving was clearly explained and the individual elements of the bundle were outlined clearly it was not misleading. They believed the ad was compliant because the bundle was clearly shown, the value of the additional items was disclosed and all information was given before a consumer made a purchase. They confirmed they had checked their approach to the promotion with Copy Advice and it had been approved.
2. Origin said the two promotions were distinct campaigns and not a continuous single promotion. That was evidenced by their different discount levels (33% and 34%) and that one was for Boxing Day and the other New Year. They confirmed further that the two promotions had specific start and end dates and so the countdown timers reflected genuine deadlines and were not extended or reset once expired.
They explained that they rarely used countdown timers and when they did it was in extraordinary circumstances where they offered not only free items but also discounts off their mattresses. Usually they offered a standard promotion (free items) with no countdown timer. They said the Boxing Day sale counted as an extra-ordinary sale event, where they offered a discount three weeks in a row. They explained that each week the price for mattress increased and the countdown timer was there to make consumers aware. They said they explicitly told customers during this period: “We have Boxing Day sale event for 3 weeks in a row. Each Monday we will raise the price – 3 weeks in a row”.
They said on week one customers got free items and the largest discount on the mattress (10% off). Then week two they offered free items and a smaller 9% discount. Finally, week three they continued with the free items and offered an 8% discount. So each week they dropped the discount by 1% and after that the use of the countdown timer ended as they went back to their ordinary sales.
3. Origin said that the images taken from their website of pricing broadly were split into two categories. From 10 November 2025 to 18 November 2025 the reference price shown was not a “was” price and no price was shown struck through. Instead the prices referenced “Similar Brands’ Average Price” which was an old method of communicating the value of Origin mattresses which they no longer used.
The screenshots from 24 November 2025 onwards did use a strike-through but it was not the previous price of the mattress. Instead, it was the price of the mattress and the free items combined, as explained under point 1. They used the example of the website on 25 November 2025 where it stated the hybrid mattress price was displayed as “from £403 £278” with £403 struck through. During that time the single mattress was £305 and it came with one free pillow which was sold for £98. The combination of the mattress and the pillow was £403. That was why the £403 price was struck through and the £278 was shown as the price. The saving of £125 was the £98 pillow and a separate promotion of 9% off the mattress.
They explained that on the product page further explanation was provided to consumers to understand the basis of the discount. When the complimentary pillow offer was not selected, the page displayed “Save 9% off your mattress” and “Save £27”. When the complimentary pillow offer was selected, the page displayed “Save 31% off with 1 free pillow” and “Save £125”. In addition, the product page included a bold statement directly beneath the free items section, which stated “What is the basis of this discount? The savings shown reflect a promotional discount on the mattress and retail value of the complimentary products included with your purchase”.
They said that on the home page an accompanying pop up was provided. Origin submitted an example of the pop-up text, although it was not the exact text that appeared at the time the ads were seen. The text of the pop up said “UP TO 36% OFF WITH FREE items up to £529. The savings shown reflect the retail value of the complimentary products included with your purchase. For example, if the mattress retails for £300 and you receive £100 worth of free add-ons, that amounts to savings of 25%!”
They said therefore consumers were clearly able to see the basis of the discount on the product page and in a pop up shown in every page of the website. However, they had updated the website navigation menu to reflect the explanation in the pop up.
Following an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it concluded that the adverts were misleading and to pressurise consumers. Ruling on all three issues, the ASA upheld each one raised, stating: “The ad must not appear again in the form complained of.
“We told Origin Sleep UK Ltd to ensure that pricing claims should not suggest a saving against a product when it was actually referring to a saving based on an additional free item. We also told them to ensure their ads did not misleadingly imply that discount offers were time-limited, or that consumers needed to act more quickly than was necessary to take advantage of an offer.”
For more information on the case, click here.
