Communications & Media
3. Conduct by Businesses
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 23 Jun 2015
- Laws that regulate advertising are generally aimed to prohibit businesses from lying to, misleading or deceiving customers. Before you publish any advertising material such as online content, catalogues, flyers or television advertisements you should ensure the content is not likely to mislead or deceive your customers.
- If your business engages in misleading or deceptive conduct you can face severe penalties. It is illegal for your business to make a statement that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive the public.
- A business statement may constitute misleading or deceptive conduct regardless of whether it intended to mislead or deceive.
- The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been cracking down on misleading and deceptive conduct in recent times.
- An example of this is the high profile High Court case involving Coles.
- Coles advertised a variety of baked goods as being baked in store every day. In fact the dough was made offsite and half-baked then sent to Coles stores where they baked the bread until it was ready.
- Despite the fact that the bread was technically ‘baked’ in some capacity at the Coles stores, the language used was likely to mislead customers into thinking that the whole process of making bread was carried out at that location.
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