Deceptive Advertising
pt
Deceptive Advertising
Melissa Ramirez
POD 431
October 14, 2012
Deceptive Advertising
Deceptive advertisement “is the promotional technique (such as bait and switch pricing) designed to influence buyers with false or misleading claims.” (Deceptive advertising). Deceptive advertising has been around for quite a long time and sadly to say it is widely spread today. Advertisers project false advertisement to intentionally mislead the consumer into deciding on a product based on falsified information. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Commission is authorized to prevent inequitable methods of competition, and inequitable or deceptive acts or practices that will affect commerce in any way. (“Legal Resources”)
Knowing how much deceptive advertising can influence consumption can become a very uncertain answer, because firms can counter-advertise to reveal misleading claims produced by their rivals and consumers may be appropriately confident to neglect such exaggerated claims (Posner, 1973). Furthermore, regular advertising and deceptive advertising in particular can be very helpful in increasing total consumption, or helping keep total consumption untouched, but increasing market shares at the increase of competitors. Advertising can increase consumption of the advertised product and decrease the consumption of the rival product. (Posner, 1973)
There is one specific requirement that has to be met before we can consider an advertisement to be deceptive. “It is necessary to show that the false belief is due only to the advertisement and not to some other factor such as false information derived from a news article or another person.” The experiment I performed to demonstrate how deceptive advertisement works is on Flood Ford’s car dealership ads. The ads illustrate certain types of Ford based vehicles that are only eligible for this type of discount for the consumer. An ad example Ford Dealer advertised a few months ago before the Federal Trade
Deceptive Advertising
Melissa Ramirez
POD 431
October 14, 2012
Deceptive Advertising
Deceptive advertisement “is the promotional technique (such as bait and switch pricing) designed to influence buyers with false or misleading claims.” (Deceptive advertising). Deceptive advertising has been around for quite a long time and sadly to say it is widely spread today. Advertisers project false advertisement to intentionally mislead the consumer into deciding on a product based on falsified information. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Commission is authorized to prevent inequitable methods of competition, and inequitable or deceptive acts or practices that will affect commerce in any way. (“Legal Resources”)
Knowing how much deceptive advertising can influence consumption can become a very uncertain answer, because firms can counter-advertise to reveal misleading claims produced by their rivals and consumers may be appropriately confident to neglect such exaggerated claims (Posner, 1973). Furthermore, regular advertising and deceptive advertising in particular can be very helpful in increasing total consumption, or helping keep total consumption untouched, but increasing market shares at the increase of competitors. Advertising can increase consumption of the advertised product and decrease the consumption of the rival product. (Posner, 1973)
There is one specific requirement that has to be met before we can consider an advertisement to be deceptive. “It is necessary to show that the false belief is due only to the advertisement and not to some other factor such as false information derived from a news article or another person.” The experiment I performed to demonstrate how deceptive advertisement works is on Flood Ford’s car dealership ads. The ads illustrate certain types of Ford based vehicles that are only eligible for this type of discount for the consumer. An ad example Ford Dealer advertised a few months ago before the Federal Trade
References: Deceptive Advertising. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/deceptive-advertising.html. [Last Accessed October 8, 2012]. Legal Resources-Statutes Relating to Both Missions. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/stat1.shtm. [Last Accessed October 12, 2012]. Olson, J.C.O and Dover, P.A.D, (1978). Cognitive Effects of Deceptive Advertising. Journal of Marketing Research. 15 (No. 1), pp.29-38 Posner Richard , (1973). Regulation and Advertising by the FTC. 1st ed. Washington D.C.: American Enterprise Institute. Spandorf, E.S., (2012). 19 Dealers charged with Deceptive Advertising in Two-Month span. Compli, Cool, Calm, and Compliant. (2), pp.1-3