False Representations

[unixronin]

cymrullewes picked up a box of Hannaford's house-brand rice-chex clone breakfast cereal yesterday, choosing it over brand-name Chex largely, I understand, because the box showed the cereal containing raspberries.  Needless to say, it doesn't.

(Actually, she's since clarified that the cereal she bought was a different one than the one she exclaimed over just before the cell connection dropped.  But anyway....)

Advertisers do this all the time.  How many times have you bought a package of food with a picture on the front that dramatically fails to match the contents, and a little tiny small-print disclaimer hidden somewhere on the box that says something like "New Wonda Choccy Sowbugs can be a part of this nutritious breakfast"?  Note that nowhere does it actually state that New Wonda Choccy Sowbugs is actually nutritious, or actually contains what the picture on the box shows.  What's worse, if it's not a food product, the odds are not insignificant that there's another piece of small print hidden somewhere that says something like "Manufacturer does not warrant any fitness or suitability for any particular purpose."

The UK has something called the Trades Descriptions Act that is supposed to restrict stuff like this.  You have to be very careful about what you claim in an advertisement in the UK, because any day, a representative from the inspectorate of Weights and Measures can walk into your office carrying a package of your product that he bought at random off a store shelf, and say, "You make this claim about this product.  Show me, with this one, right here, right now."  And you'd better be able to back up the claim.

I think the US needs one too.  It could be quite simple; all it needs to do is say something like this:

"If you, a product manufacturer, make what a reasonable person would take as a representation, via a commercial advertisement, a marketing claim, or a package illustration, that your product contains or does something that in point of actual fact it does not, and any purchaser of the product complains that the product does not in fact live up to this representation, then you are legally obligated to make up the misrepresentation to every purchaser of the product."

Discuss.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I don't think any reasonable person would expect there to be milk in the box. But when I buy a product that has a picture of the product on the box, I for one feel that said picture should accurately represent what is contained in the box. It shouldn't show a whole bunch of stuff that isn't actually included, and it shouldn't show the product doing something that it doesn't actually do (and can't in fact be done with it).

To enlarge a little upon that — everyone accepts it as normal that we put milk on cereal. Showing the cereal with milk on it is reasonable. But if I buy, for example, a box that shows a nutted rice pilaf on the front, and turns out to contain plain rice and a suggestion that with a dozen other ingredients as well I could make a nutted rice pilaf, I'm gonna be a little pissed off.

Breakfast cereals, these days, are often relatively complex mixtures of various things to start with. Nutty granola clusters, or what have you. Show me what's in the box. Don't make me look through the list of ingredients to see whether it's plausible that what's on the front of the box actually matches what's in the box. Show me what I'm buying, not how I could potentially tart it up if I felt so inclined.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

To enlarge a little upon that — everyone accepts it as normal that we put milk on cereal. Showing the cereal with milk on it is reasonable. But if I buy, for example, a box that shows a nutted rice pilaf on the front, and turns out to contain plain rice and a suggestion that with a dozen other ingredients as well I could make a nutted rice pilaf, I'm gonna be a little pissed off.

Hunh. I do this sort of thing all the time, actually. I'm thinking specifically of the little 10 x 5 x 1 cm box sitting in my cabinet labeled "Fish Biryani", which lists just about a dozen other ingredients which if added to the contents of the box, will give me fish biryani. Or something vaguely resembling such.

I dunno. I don't buy breakfast cereal, but I look at the picture on the box kinda like car ads. Supermodel not included. Well, maybe if you buy a Ferrari she is...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking specifically of the little 10 x 5 x 1 cm box sitting in my cabinet labeled "Fish Biryani", which lists just about a dozen other ingredients which if added to the contents of the box, will give me fish biryani.

Point. Though I've usually seen those labelled as "fish biryani masala" or something like that. (Which reminds me that I need to make up more Moghlai masala.)

Supermodel not included. Well, maybe if you buy a Ferrari she is...

Heh. :)