Marketing has been defined as the action or business of promoting and selling products or services to the general public. Marketing a product effectively can help raise public awareness of the product and in return raise sales of the product dramatically. However to control fair marketing procedures some legal requirements have been set out in the sales of goods act 1979, consumer credit Acts 1974 and 2006, and The Consumer protection from unfair trading regulations 2008. The organization may also set out some restrictions on their marketing voluntary by choosing to follow the Code of Advertising Practice and Advertising Standards Authority. Pressure groups and consumerism also has a huge effect on marketing procedures.
Legal Constraints and limitations on marketing
The sales of goods act 1979
The sales of goods act 1979 gives protection to purchasers as the Act states that goods must be of satisfactory quality, goods sold by description must correspond to the description of the product, the seller must have the right to sell the good and products sold by sample should match the description and previous samples viewed. For example if a company advertises Italian leather shoes, the product must then be real Italian leather as they have stated in their advertisement. This act limits marketing as it stops organizations from taking advantage of consumers by using false advertisement when marketing their products. For example if a company advertises that they have a 50% sale on a particular item for a selected time and a customer responds to this later finding out that the product advertised on the sale is not the product giving to customer upon purchasing, the organization would be using unfair practises under the sales of goods act as the act limits them to false reporting when marketing a product by stating that goods must match sample and correspond to the description of the product. This act therefor affects marketing as it stops