Deceptive Advertising

Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 2
Deceptive Advertising .......................................................................................................... 3
Types of Deceptive Advertising ....................................................................................... 3
Conclusion: ........................................................................................................................ 13
Reference........................................................................................................................... 13
Introduction
Deceptive advertising or false advertising has been disseminated in the business industry through
the cunning marketers of present marketing era. Deceptive advertising refers to the promotional
techniques designed to influence buyers with false or misleading claims. It creates
misrepresentation of the product at hand which may negatively affect many stakeholders,
especially consumers. Though false advertising in the most blatant of contexts, is illegal in most
countries, advertisers still find ways to deceive consumers in ways that are legal, or technically
illegal but unenforceable. Here in this assignment we will try to understand the deceptive
marketing types and real world example of running product that conveys false message to its
consumers but are still getting price for being bought.

Deceptive Advertising
According to Velasques (2006) deceptive advertising refers to the advertising that makes false
claims or misleading statements, as well as advertising that creates a false impression. If retailers
systematically advertise merchandise at low prices to get customers into their stores and then fail
to have the merchandise, they are guilty of deceptive advertising. Deceptive practices can take
many other forms. The types of deceptive advertising are mentioned below:

Types of Deceptive Advertising

There are two types of method of Deceptive advertising and they are:

1. Pricing Based Methods: in this method there can be some deception like hidden fees
& charges, going out of business sales, misuse of the word free
2. Other Methods: Manipulation of measurement units and standards, filler and oversized
packaging, manipulation of terms, incomplete comparison, Inconsistent comparison, false
coloring, angel dusting, misleading illustration, bait & switch, No risk acceptance by
default, undisclosed dishonest business practices are some other methods of deceptive
advertising.
The elaborate discussion of aforementioned methods of deceptive advertising is given below
with real life example of business products that are currently existing in the market and
misleading the consumers.

1. Hidden fees and surcharges:

Hidden fees & surcharges is one way of deceiving consumers through pricing based methods.
Service providers often tack on the fees and surcharges that are not disclosed to the customer in
the advertised price. One of the most common is for activation of services such as mobile
phones and credit cards, but is also common in broadband, telephony, gym memberships, and
air travel. In most cases, the fees are hidden in fine print, though in a few cases they are so
confused and obfuscated by ambiguous terminology that they are essentially undisclosed.
Hidden fees are frequently used in airline and air travel advertising.

Here we can see Airtel Bangladesh is offering unlimited 3G internet at 450tk. But they have
some condition with this particular service. Like-

Till FUP limit of 2GB, subscriber can enjoy Airtel 3G with No Speed Limit
FUP pack comes with a fixed quota. After quota is consume instead of standard PAYG2
rate of tk0.01/10KB, rate will be tk0.00/10KB (effectively 0 rate), but speed will be
throttled to 40kbps.

Here we see hidden fees. These fees are not printed in the advertisement but customers have to
face it after activation.
 2. Bait-and-Switch:

Bait-and-switch is a technique where advertisers advertise an item which is unavailable when

the consumer arrives at the store, who is then sold a similar product at higher price. Bait-and-
switch is legal in the United States.

As an example of this in Bangladesh we can state the activity of Samsung Mobile

Bangladeshs example. They state a price which is not available in their shop for regular
customer. Nut they are publishing every day and attracting customer and then customer buy
their product with a higher price stated in their FB page.
 3. Acceptance by Default:

Here we can use the auto renewal options of many services in the telecommunication industry of
Bangladesh especially in the Value Added Services.
Whenever customer buy a service of any of the company (eg. GrameenPhone, Airtel,
Banglalink) they by default enable the service of auto renewal. Whenever the subscribed pack is
finishes or expired the company by default renew the service without even the customer letting
know.
 4. Fillers and Oversized Packaging:
Some products are sold with fillers, which increase the legal weight of the product with
something that costs the producer very little compared to what the consumer thinks that he or
she is buying. Food is an example of this, where meat IS injected With broth or even brine (up
to 15%), or TV dinners are filled with gravy or other sauce instead of meat. Malt and cocoa
butter have been used as filler in peanut butter. Fillers & oversized packaging is a common
form of deceiving customers. Here, through fillers and oversized packaging producers try to
convince customers that they are getting certain amount of value which actually they are not
provided with. Certainly, packages must display the actual weight or the actual number of
products within, on the package. But, seldom consumers carefully compare these numbers and
even if they do most of the consumers are not smart enough to understand the tricks of
measurement done by the manufacturers. Here we can state the pack of Lays Chips. Its more
than half is filled with air and the rest is chips.
 5. No Risk:

Advertisers frequently claim there is no risk to trying their product, when clearly there is. For
example, they may charge the customer's credit card for the product, offering a full refund if not
satisfied. However, the risks of such an offer are numerous. Customers may not get the product
at all, they may be billed for things they did not want.

This happens with many of the products. We can state the example of Frutika Juice.

In above advertisement we can see that Frutika is claiming that the juice made by them is pure.
There is no chemical & preservative in it. But we know it is needed to use chemical to preserve
the mango for a whole year. They are using every chemical needed for macking juice. . Thus
they are attracting the customer with No Risk method.
 6. Angel Dusting:
Angel dusting is a process where an ingredient which would be beneficial, in a reasonable
quantity, is instead added in an insignificant quantity which will have no consumer benefit. so
they can make the claim that it contains that ingredient, and mislead the consumer into
expecting that they will gain the benefit For example we can say we the Horlicks having many
beneficial elements for child in their junior horlicks but it is not true at all.

7. Incomplete Comparison:
"Better" means one item is superior to another in some way, while "best" means it is superior
to all others in some way. However, advertisers frequently fail to list the way in each they are
being compared (price, size, quality, etc) and, in the case of "better". to what they are
comparing (a competitor's product, an eatdier version of their product. or nothing at all). So,
without defining how they are using the terms "better" or best". the terms become
meaningless. An ad which claims "Our cold medicine is better" could be lust saying it is an
improvement over taking nothing at all.
We had seen many advertisement regarding Horlicks and Complan. These two have a brand war.
So this is an Incomplete Comparison.

8. Manipulation of Measurement Units and Standards:

Sellers may manipulate standards to mean something different than their widely understood
meaning.

Here we can see the screenshot captured of an IPhone of 16GB but it is showing that it has a
memory 12.6GB only.
9. Misuse of the Word "Free":
The usual meaning of "free" is "devoid of cost or obligation". However, retailers often
use the word for something which is merely included in the overall price. One
common example is a "buy one, get one free" sale. The second item is not "free"
under the normal definition, since, to obtain it, the buyer is obliged to pay the full cost
of the first item.

We can see Bannglalink is offering free facebook and whatsapp for everyone but a
internet pack must be activated and this has tobe more than 10 tk. This is one kind of
missuse of the word free.
 10. Guarantee without a remedy approach:

Advertisers frequently assure the customers about the quality of the product. Such assurance is
given as of products being reasonably fit for any purpose as the advertisers specified in the
advertisement. It also implies that the goods will satisfy any extra promises made about them
by the advertisers.

Generally, if the product fails to fulfill such guarantees, there are remedies, such as- supplier
may repair or change the product, provide the customer with refund or give compensation.
Such remedies are generally depicted in the advertisement or the customers are provided with
information what they should do if the guarantees are not fulfilled.

Here we can state the example of fair & lovely. It says that it will make the customer fair even if
she is black.
 Conclusion:

Deceptive advertising has taken its place all over the corporate world to persuade its target
audience and consumers for buying their products whereas, any advertising that leads the
consumer to make purchase decisions based on false assumptions about the price and quality of
competitive products is considered deceptive practice and is punishable by law. Responsibility
for enforcement of the laws dealing with unfair and deceptive advertising comes under the
jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission. In this assignment we tried to define deceptive
advertising and to presented types of deceptive and false advertising with some real life example
of products with its deceptive advertising picture.

Reference

1. Wells, W. , Brunett, J. & Moriarty, S. (1998). Advertising: Principles & practice

(4th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.
2. Velasques, M.G. (2006). Business ethics: Concepts and cases (6th ed.). New Jersy:
Pearson Education Ltd