Complaint against the Jack Wang Motor
Co. Ltd. alleging false advertising in violation of the Fair Trade Law
Chinese Taipei
Case:
Complaint against the Jack Wang Motor Co. Ltd. alleging false advertising
in violation of the Fair Trade Law
Key Words:
lowest price, combined expression, car accessories
Reference:
Fair Trade Commission Decision of June 15, 2000 (the 449th Commissioners'
Meeting); Disposition (89) Kung Chu Tzu No. 102
Industry:
International Trade Industry (5600)
Relevant Laws:
Article 21
and the forepart of Article 41
of the Fair Trade Law
Summary:
- This case originated from a person who complained against Jack Wang Motor
Co. Ltd. (Jack Wang Motor) relating to an advertisement for the Hyundai ATOS
model at the United Daily on 13 August 1999. The consumer complained that
the advertisement clearly stated that "special offer for the ATOS smart
automatic transmission model, price starting from as low as NT$ 328,000".
When the consumer, allured by the advertisement, discussed purchase with a
sales representative, he was however told that the above price was only for
the manual transmission model and the price for the automatic transmission
model was in fact NT$ 368,000. Consequently, the consumer complained that
the advertisement was obviously deceptive.
- The Fair Trade Commission (the "Commission") found that the advertisement
included the followings: "the ultimate dream, ATOS, the cool, magnificent
new generation urban mini-RV, 4-cylinder 12-vavle, smart automatic transmission,
consolidated power steering, high-carbon impact-resistant side-panel, resistant
to front-end collide at up to 35 mp/hr, with 1084-liter trunk space. It has
everything you need: feature and safety, work and leisure. Owning the OTAS
is even easier and more economical now, starting from NT$ 328,000 ... "
The whole context of the advertisement obviously expressed that the new "ATOS"
with 4-cylinder 12-valve engine could be acquired for as low as NT$ 328,000,
but the actual selling price was NT$ 368,000. It therefore constituted as
a false advertising. The Jack Wang Motor defended by saying that the words
"smart automatic transmission" applied at the advertisement were
a creative term for the same type of car with the character of automatic transmission.
The Jack Wang Motor also argued that when an advertisement stated the given
price of "XXXX dollars" for a particular model most consumers understood
that it usually referred to the manual transmission model with basic accessories.
Thirdly, the Jack Wang Motor pointed to that a footnote to the advertisement
located under a car picture had stated that "actual accessories may vary."
However, given that the advertisement combined the accessories of the "ATOS"
model and the lowest price together, the whole context misled consumers into
believing that "the ATOS model" with smart automatic transmission
was sold for NT$ 328,000. While the advertisement indeed included a footnote
underneath the picture stating that "actual accessories may vary,"
the footnote was in much smaller print and at an inconspicuous place so that
it did not affect the overall representation of the advertisement. Therefore,
it can be found that the respondent included false and misleading representation
on the price of the product and violated Article 21 (1) of the Fair Trade
Law.
- For the reasons, the Commission found that the Jack Wang Motor published
false and misleading representation at its advertisement for the ATOS model
in violation of Article 21 (1) of the Fair Trade Law. After considering the
degree of injury caused by this illegal act, the scale of the Jack Wang Motor,
the circumstances of its violation and its attitude after the violation etc.,
the Commission, according to the fore part of Article 41 of the Fair Trade
Law, ordered the Company to cease its misleading representation and imposed
it to a fine of NT$ 150,000.
Appendix:
The Jack Wang Motor Company Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 11090751
Summarized by Li, Wen-Hsiu
Supervised by Chu, Wei-Ching
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