Between 20 August and 24 October 2025, delivery platform Wolt sent push notifications to about 45,000 consumers in Denmark — users who had just made their first or second grocery order. The message: 'Save money on your next grocery order! Snack hungry? We've got your back! Get 25% on your next order!' Fine print followed: selected stores only, minimum order DKK 189, valid for a few weeks — and 'Discount capped at DKK 30.'
The cap swallowed the headline. On the DKK 189 minimum spend required to qualify at all, DKK 30 works out to roughly 15.9% — the advertised 25% was mathematically unattainable under the offer's own conditions. A consumer who received the notification complained, and the Ombudsman agreed: Consumer Ombudsman Torben Jensen said that when a company markets a 25 percent discount, consumers must actually be able to obtain it, and that Wolt had pushed app users to order groceries without receiving what was promised.
On 18 March 2026 the Ombudsman reported Wolt Danmark ApS to the police for misleading marketing under sections 5, 6 and 8 of the Marketing Practices Act — misleading conduct is punishable under section 37(3) when it is likely to make the average consumer take a transaction they otherwise would not have taken.
Wolt pushed '25% off' to 45,000 users, but the DKK 30 cap made the real discount 16% on the minimum spend, so Denmark's Ombudsman reported it to the police.
The cap ate the headline: 25% advertised, about 16% reachable on the minimum spend — the promised number was unattainable under the offer's own terms.
Fine print doesn't rescue a false headline: disclosing a cap still leaves an ad misleading if the advertised discount cannot be received.
The channel amplified it: 45,000 personalised push notifications turned one bad offer into a mass practice.
A discount must be obtainable as advertised: cap a 25% promise where it can't mathematically reach and the headline misleads — Denmark's Ombudsman sent that to the police.
The police report of 18 March 2026 cited sections 5, 6, 8 and 37(3) of the Marketing Practices Act; any fine would follow criminal proceedings. The campaign ran from 20 August to 24 October 2025 and reached about 45,000 consumers.
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