Hot Gossip > When is it OK to lie in your advertising?
This is the question the marketing department at GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Ribena, should have asked themselves a long time ago. If they had, they may have avoided the negative publicity that followed the revelation that they made false statements about the Vitamin C content of their drink.
Commerce Commission Chair Paula Rebstock said that the case should alert other businesses to the importance of ensuring that claims made in advertising and on packaging were accurate.
You may think that the Ribena case is an isolated incident, but sadly it isn't. Amongst others, the Commerce Commission has successfully prosecuted:
- a company and it's director for mislabelling ordinary honey as UMF (Active Manuka Honey which has antiseptic qualities) in an attempt to mislead consumers,
- the NZ distributors of 'Body Enhancer', fined $792,000 for exploiting a marketing opportunity by falsely claiming their product would reduce fat, control appetite and improve health, and had been scientifically tested,
- Ecoworld NZ Ltd, fined and ordered to pay compensation to consumers for misleading statements about the benefits of a water “treatment” system that did nothing to change the water it treated.
It is a wake up call for all marketers
We should use these examples as a catalyst to check the claims we make in our own advertising and promotional material. If we don't we risk expensive legal expenses, fines and loss of reputation and sales - all of which could be the death of any small NZ business.
On one hand we might think customers are gullible or uncaring; accepting without question the advertising claims marketers make. However the Glaxo experience, triggered by an investigation by two Papakura College students, shows how easy it is to be 'caught out'.
Corinne Blumsky, Partner in Wellington Legal Firm A J Park, writes "It is important for a business to be clear about the truth of all facts or claims being made about a product or service. If promotional or advertising materials create a misleading impression, you could breach the Fair Trading Act 1986 or an Advertising Standards Code. Common areas where problems arise include:
- claims about price
- specific claims about a product or service
- fine print (does it coincide with general claims?)
- consistency of statements made in multi-layered promotional material (for example, across packaging, labelling, brochures and advertising)."
Corinne points out that the devil is in the detail. She says there is only one sure way to ensure that the facts or claims made in promotional or advertising material are correct. Marketers need to check and double check - and triple check, if necessary.
Unqualified statements or generalisations
Statements like 'the best...' or 'quality service' hold little weight with consumers because they have seen this type of claim made many times by marketers.
As consumers we always expect to receive the 'best' product and 'quality' service when we part with our hard earned cash, so these statements do nothing to make a product or service stand out and get noticed.
Unless you know it can be proven or qualified by a respected independent source, these types of statements are best avoided. Most seasoned marketers know that if you use specific claims that will benefit the customer, rather than generalisations, then you are more likely to be believed.
Meaningless Environmental Claims
With the growth in environmental concern and social awareness, some marketers see an opportunity to influence purchase decisions by incorporating meaningless environmental statements into their advertising.
'Environmentally friendly', 'biodegradable' 'ozone-friendly' and 'non-toxic', when they appear as a standalone statement on packaging or advertising are meaningless unless supported with certification by an independent accredited auditor.
Labelling a product as 'Recyclable', without the plastic identification code and a locally available recycling scheme, is not only meaningless but unhelpful.
A product labelled 'CFC Free' is meaningless as CFCs have been banned under the Montreal Protocol since 1993.
Unfortunately for those marketers who do take the time and expense to have their products and services independently audited, these types of meaningless claims impact on the industry as a whole. They add to the consumers confusion and to their sense of mistrust about what they are buying.
So that being said, when is it OK to lie or mislead in your advertising?
Well I don't know about you, but I've got a reputation and business to protect... I'm off to triple check our own marketing messages!
By Wendy Riley-Biddle, Director and Principal Designer
Hot Pyjama Productions Ltd
www.hotpj.co.nz
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