Level 3 BTEC National Diploma in Business Studies- Unit 6

There are a number of laws and regulations that have been put in place to protect consumers when buying products or services. Businesses must make sure they follow these laws and regulations to prevent possible legal action being taken out against them. These laws prevent the businesses from misleading customers about their goods or services. I am going to explain these laws, and explain how they impact of McDonalds and Apple.

Sales of Goods Act 1979
The Sale of Goods Act lays down several conditions that all goods sold by a trader must meet.
The goods must be:
As described; refers to any advert or verbal description made by the trader
Of satisfactory quality; covers minor and cosmetic defects as well as substantial problems. It also means that products must last a reasonable time. But it doesn't give you any rights if a fault was obvious or pointed out to you at point of sale
Fit for purpose; covers not only the obvious purpose of an item but any purpose you queried and were given assurances about by the trader.
Both Apple and McDonald’s have got themselves into trouble for not following the Sales of Goods Act. They often ‘big up’ their products when advertising them. However, when the product is purchased, it does not match what was advertised. An example of this is the ‘’BigMac’’ at McDonald’s.

This is not technically false advertising, as McDonalds are using the same products in the burgers as they show in their adverts; false advertising would be if McDonalds were to only put one hamburger patty in the BigMac, compared to two. However, this could be classed as misleading advertising. As they are selling the same product they have advertised, but it is photo shopped to be made better than it actually is. In one way or another, the consumer is not getting the product that was advertised, and therefore results in The Sale of Goods Act not being followed.

Trade Descriptions Act 1968
The Trade Descriptions Act makes it an offence for a trader to make false or misleading statements about goods or services. It carries criminal penalties and is enforced by Trading Standards Officers, making it an offence for a trader to:
Apply a false trade description to any goods
Supply or offer to supply any goods to which a false trade description has been applied
Make certain kinds of false statement about the provision of any services, facilities or accommodation
Apple are often the target of misleading advertising lawsuits such as, in 2012, Apple were fined £1.4 million after the company admitted to misleading customers about its iPad’s 4G capabilities. The iPad which was being sold across the globe, was advertised as capable of connecting to 4G networks, when the truth was that this 4G connectivity was only available in America at the time. This is breaking the Trade Descriptions act of 1968, as Apple mislead customers about the services the iPad could offer.

Consumer Credit Act 2006

Data Protection Act 1998

ASA Self Regulations and Advertising to Children