DECEPTIVE AND UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES

 

Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices

Advertising works best when it is aimed at “people who would most likely use the product”. Because of this many unethical attempts are done to place ads in placed they shouldn’t be.

What is deceptive advertising?

Deception exists when an advertisement is introduced into the perceptual process of some audience and the output of that perceptual process differs from the reality of the situation and affects buying behavior to the detriment of the consumer.

Thus deception will be found if:

ü  There is misrepresentation, omission or practice that is likely to mislead

ü  The consumer is eating responsibly in the circumstances

ü  The practice is material and consumer injury is possible because consumers are likely to have chosen differently if there was no deception

Sometimes the input or advertisement may not be false, but the perceptual process generates deceptive impression.

There are various ways in which misrepresentations or omissions occur:

v  Suggesting that a small difference is important. E.g.: a cigarette as that claim its product have less nicotine, attributes to an article that has appeared in a magazine. However the difference is insignificant and meaningless.

v  Artificial product demonstration, a monster truck running rough shod over a row of cars and damaging all but the one being advertised for.

v  Using an ambiguous or easily confused phrase, using phrases like government supported / government approved or low fat.

v  Implying a benefit that goes not fully or partially exist: vegetarian toothpaste.

v  Implying that a product benefit is unique to a brand: health drink that talks of being a complete substitute for a meal.

v  Incorrectly implying that an endorser uses and advocates the brand, using icons or celebrities to endorse a product that he / she has used and personally benefited.

v  Omitting a needed qualification: complete disclosure in an ad. There are a wide variety of advertising brands that differ little in substance from competitions. It is common to associate a brand with an attribute of the product class. Should the brand be required to state in its advertisement that all brands are virtually identical in this respect?

v  Bait and switch offers. This tactic requires placing an ad item at tremendous value. Upon reaching the store, the shoppers find the item is “no longer available” and in order to alleviate their sorrow at missing deal they are directed to a similar item that, while not as good of a bargain (sometimes no bargain at all) closely matches what they came in for. Why is this advertising method illegal? For two reasons:

1.      It relies on false information

2.      It works way too well

One of the main problems is that often times, these underhanded techniques work all too well. They are based on deception misdirection and other highly refined but sharply unethical techniques. In many ways and especially on the internet, the porn industry has its share of unethical advertising.

v  Identifying the advertising: This is related to advertorials / infomercials where it should be mentioned that it is an advertisement. Disclosure / caution line should be clearly identifiable.

v  Intellectual property: Using research studies or data to push your product without giving due credit to the research organization that has spent considerable time and money to bring out the results.

v  False testimonials: These are tools that are used to increase attention, particularly with radio and print. Sometimes very effective as a form of advertising, they are not always done well. The intention behind real-person endorsements is to depict a simulation of word-of-mouth advertising. They may show an expert e.g. doctor in white coat technique. But more often they present ‘typical people’ who appear to be just like us. This is the satisfied customer technique. The process of empathy and identification indicates that the more like us ‘satisfied customer’ appear to be the more effective their testimonials. Consequently, in many countries, testimonials are used by companies marketing to specialist occupational groups like farmers, plumbers, builders, etc.

Who is deceived? The reasonable consumer?

For an advertisement to be deceptive, it must contain a material untruth. That is one capable of affecting purchase decisions. It is also likely that advertisements can cause public injury, where public injury means that a consumer must actually suffer damage and it must show that goods purchased are unequal to the value expended.

What is the acceptable level of misperception?

What percent of an audience needs to be misleading for deception to occur? The standard will depend on the context. If health and safety are involved, it should be very low or zero. If the danger is in buying the wrong soap or toothpaste is modest, higher level can be tolerated.

Misrepresentation and Omission

There are various ways in which misrepresentation or omission occurs:

a)      Suggesting that small different is important.

b)      Artificial product demonstrate extraordinary feat performed by the model – “Cheetah Bhi Peeta Hai”. E.g.: Mountain Dew – Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai.

c)      Using ambiguous phrases easily confuses the mind – “Supported by the Government, recognized by Dental Association” E.g.: Colgate.

d)      Implying benefits that do not fully or partly exist – Vegetarian Tooth paste.

e)      Implying that the product benefit is unique to the brand – Health drink substitute for meal. E.g.: Colgate Salt, Cloud 9.

f)       Incorrectly implying that the endorser used and advocates the brand – using icons.

g)      Omitting a needed qualification – complete disclosure of fact and substance.

h)      Bait and Switch offers – “no longer available from tomorrow”, “last day today” e.g.: Vijay Sales.

i)        Intellectual property – using falsely research items.

j)        False Testimonials – These are tools that are used to increase attention, particularly with radio, television and print. Sometime very effective form of advertising, they are not always done well. The intention behind real person endorsement is to depict a simulation of word of mouth advertising. They may show typical people “white coat doctor”, a typical characteristic representation associated with some emotional appeal like “parents don’t lie”. The process is empathy and identification indicates more like us “satisfied customers” appear to be the more effective testimonials.