Golden Fitness Co., Ltd. allegedly violated Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law by falsely claiming in advertisements that it has "tanning booth" facilities
Case:
Golden Fitness Co., Ltd. allegedly violated Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law by falsely claiming in advertisements that it has "tanning booth" facilities
Key Words:
additional facilities, tanning booths, false advertising
Reference:
Fair Trade Commission Decision of February 15, 2001 (the 484th Commissioners' Meeting); Disposition (90) Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 039
Industry:
Other sporting services (8749)
Relevant Law:
Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law
Summary:
1. This case was originated with a letter from a citizen who, as a member of Golden Fitness Co., Ltd. (a licensee of Gold's Gym) since 13 March 2000, accused the Golden Fitness Co., Ltd. of false advertising. Golden Fitness claimed that it had "copper tone tanning booths" in its fitness center in the advertisement despite its continuing failure as of August 2000 to install "copper tone tanning booths". 2. The respondent did not dispute the fact that it had not yet installed the advertised "copper tone tanning booths" as of October 2000 when the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) conducted its investigation of the case. However, it did produce to the FTC blueprint drawn up by a managerial company and correspondence between it and that company, and argued that the delay was the result of a series of changes in the design and specifications of the tanning booths. Nevertheless, considering Golden Fitness Co., Ltd.'s claim in the advertisement that its "additional facilities include copper tone tanning booths," it should have installed them by the time it printed the advertisement instead of postponing their installation to as late as January 2001. Furthermore, the claim had led consumers to form a favorable impression of the fitness center, leaving other competitors to compete on a disadvantageous footing. 3. In summary, Golden Fitness Co., Ltd. violated Article 21(3) and, mutatis mutandis, Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law, which provide that an enterprise shall not, when advertising, make false or misleading representations of its services. The FTC therefore rendered a disposition against Golden Fitness Co., Ltd. pursuant to the forepart of Article 41 of the same Law, and ordered it to immediately cease the illegal practice. Appendix: Golden Fitness Co., Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 70476921 Summarized by Ho, Yin-Ru; Supervised by Yeh, Tien-Fu