deceptive advertising
As a consumer in a world of constant advertising messages being flashed before my eyes, I am always wary of the truth of those messages that I see. It is terrible when consumers see an advertisement, whether it is in a magazine, television or any other medium, and they decide to make a purchase only to find out they are not getting what they originally planned or have to pay more than they had expected. Deceptive advertisements have been a problem since the early days of media and consumers have needed to keep an eye out for them. Yet, with so many advertisements that consumers are exposed to each day, worrying about the truth of every line and every sentence of an ad is quite inconvenient. Advertisers must follow strict guidelines to stay clear of lawsuits resulting from deceptive advertisements. I will be focusing on automobile advertisements and how consumers have been deceived through their ads. Deceptive advertising can be described as "advertising which is misleading in a material aspect." (Simon 256) This definition would include all the false and misleading advertisements that would appear in print, television, radio, outdoor and direct mailings. As well as more non-traditional forms of
FTC LAUNCHES NEXT ROUND IN BATTLE TO END DECEPTIVE AUTOMOBILE LEASE ADVERTISING, (August 28, 1998) Another test that the FTC performs is to determine if nondisclosure was used as deception. This means that the advertiser would tell the truth about some of the information but leave out undesirable information to the consumer. Less appealing facts about the product would remain out of the ad, as in many cases dealing with hidden costs. As a consumer this is possibly the most harmful when dealing with deception because the ad doesn't reveal all of the information needed to make a clear decision necessary to make a good purchase.Sec. 1667. Definitions, (November 6, 1998) In count 1, misrepresentation in lease advertising, the FTC said that Grey and Mitsubishi advertised the "down" payment as the total amount that the consumer would have to pay. But, there were additional costs involved in the lease of the Galant S including the first month's payment, security deposit and lease inception and others. The FTC concluded that the ads were misleading and that both the agency and Mitsubishi should have known that the ad was misleading to the consumer. Thus, they were using deceiving advertising which would affect commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. Arrangement and layout of the advertisement is another aspect to be considered when telling if an ad is deceptive. If the advertisement has a lot of visual impact the "underlying" message, or the important details of the product, may be looked over. Sometimes an ad will focus heavily on the positive selling arguments and overlooks or downplays the negative/detail-oriented messages. When advertisers do this the consumer naturally focuses their attention on the positives and may make a decision not realizing the hidden costs or anything else that may be included somewhere else in the ad. The uses of asterisks are a common way that advertisers let the consumer know that there is addition information, usually in small type. However, the small type is rarely ever read and practically nonexistent to the average reader. Moore, Roy L., Farrar, Ronald T., and Collins, Erik L. Advertising and Public Relations Law. Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., Publishers: London 1998. p 128-138.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Agencies FTC, Audio Lease, Grey Mitsubishi, Deceptive Advertising, MITSUBISHI GALANT, Act Regulation, FOG A88, Grey Advertising, Trade Commission, Internet Whenever, security deposit, grey advertising, capitalized cost, consumer leasing, leasing act, cost reduction, capitalized cost reduction, consumer leasing act, total amount, federal trade commission, federal trade, trade commission, lease advertising, monthly payment $249, payment $249 lieu,
Approximate Word count = 2661
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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