Unfair and false advertising

Types of illegal advertising

Based on Russian legislation, the types of illegal advertising can be classified as follows:

• unscrupulous . This category includes publications that discredit competitors or other persons, as well as advertising of goods or services in a prohibited manner and/or in a prohibited place.
• unreliable _ A reason to remove a poster or advertisement may be the placement of information in it that does not correspond to reality. This type also includes deliberately false and hidden advertising. Advertising that deliberately misleads the buyer is known to be false. Hidden occurs when the consumer does not know that he sees advertising content in front of him
• unethical . Violation of generally accepted norms and moral values ​​is unacceptable in any case, including in advertising campaigns
• prohibited _ The legislation of the Russian Federation prohibits the demonstration of smoking, drinking alcohol, the use of swear words and expressions in advertising of any product, and the promotion of drugs and other products, the distribution of which is a crime on the territory of our country, is completely prohibited

Managing Fear and Panic with Marketing

As we can see, the ground for manipulation was extremely fertile. Under stress, a person is easily excitable, very receptive and capable of making spontaneous decisions, even if this is not typical for him. Many companies did not hesitate to take advantage of this.

Those who produce products that have a rather tentative relationship to COVID-19 often use solutions lying on the surface, namely, attributing properties to their product or service that they do not possess, in order to increase sales over short time distances. It is difficult to resist such a temptation, because the consumer is vulnerable and is ready to purchase anything to protect himself from danger.

In the middle of the last century, journalist Vance Packard wrote the book “The Hidden Persuaders,” in which he revealed to the public many psychological tricks and marketing tactics. This information was shocking at the time and caused a great stir in society. But all the tricks in that book are nothing compared to the tricks marketers use today. Businesses have learned to manipulate consumers in very subtle ways because we have many more tools and technologies at our disposal than 70 years ago. We now receive a huge amount of information about the consumer, right down to his personal purchases and geographic movements.

Marketers are well aware that fear is a powerful motivator, and they take full advantage of it to sell any product - from self-development courses to condoms. One of the most illustrative cases is an advertising campaign for thermoses in the 50s. The slogan read: “A fly in milk can lead a child to the grave.” Such advertising is too rude for modern people, and its effect can be compared to an asphalt paving machine that drove through a field of the most delicate flowers - the feelings of parents for their children.

Today, advertising and brand promotion have become as sensitive, personalized and integrated into our lives as possible. But marketing still plays on the feelings and fears of customers. Here's an example: Logitech is promoting video cameras for the home. It would seem that there is nothing malicious in the slogan that we see. But even those parents who are completely confident in the hired nanny will have disturbing thoughts after such a phrase. Because the manufacturer played on very strong parental instincts.

If you look at it, Logitech took a standard situation (working parents hire a nanny for a child) and pulled out from it something that latently causes fear (the possible dishonesty of the nanny and the defenselessness of the child). Parents will definitely remember high-profile cases of nanny abuse of children and will want to protect their child. Bingo! After all, the company, which with just its slogan created an anxious state in the client, immediately offers a solution to the problem - a surveillance camera for the home.

Now imagine how effective such advertising grows in pre-prepared soil of anxiety and stress. The Media Trust recorded that in America the number of advertising campaigns where deliberately false properties are attributed to a product has quadrupled

How to file a complaint about illegal advertising?

If an advertisement interferes with traffic, is placed on a house without the permission of the owners, is installed without the consent of local authorities, or in any other way violates the Federal Law “On Advertising,” then a complaint may be filed against it.

To send such an application, you will need to perform a number of sequential actions:

1. Record a violation . To record illegally placed advertisements for goods and services, it is necessary to take several photographs linked to a specific location
2. Prepare a complaint . The header of the application indicates the name and address of the body to which the complaint was sent, as well as information about the applicant. The main part indicates the essence of the violation, provides facts indicating the existence of a violation, and provides information about the advertiser. The conclusion includes a request to eliminate the identified violation and attaches photographs confirming the violation.
3. Submit a complaint . The application can be sent electronically, by courier, or delivered by hand. The main organizations that consider such complaints are the antimonopoly service, the traffic police, the prosecutor's office, various volunteer associations and others.

ATTENTION : our lawyer can file a complaint for you, also watch the video with instructions on the basic rules

The concept of unethical advertising

One of the types of advertising that is not allowed by the Federal Law “On Advertising” is unethical advertising.
Definition 1

Unethical advertising is advertising that contains textual, visual or audio information that does not comply with moral, ethical and ethical standards.

There are many examples of its use. This application:

• visual images of a naked female body;
• words characterizing sexual relations;
• obscene language.

The most common case of violation of ethical and moral standards in advertising is the unreasonable addition of images of a woman’s naked body in videos. At the same time, advertising is considered unethical if the advertiser uses erotic images of women in advertising, but at the same time promotes goods that do not belong to the following categories: lingerie, contraceptives, strip bars, night clubs.

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Sexual motifs have been used in advertising for a long time. Back in the 1940-1950s. Studies have shown that humans have hidden sexual desires. Advertisers took advantage of this. Thus, in the motivational analysis, the sexual motive occupied a key place. The erotic element that is present in advertising should induce a “desire” to buy what the companies are promoting.

But some advertisers use this motive ineffectively. For example, the figure of a half-naked girl in a car advertisement will distract the attention of a potential buyer from the object of the advertisement - the car. Therefore, the sexual motive should be used wisely.

This phenomenon is called a “vampire” in advertising. This is an image that is used when advertising a product, but when reading the text, it draws attention to itself. Thus, the consumer remembers the image, and not the name of the company or its products. This effect is created by the overuse of nudity.

The Law “On Advertising” does not contain clear restrictions on the use of sexual language and female images. Hence, a huge number of products that have nothing to do with sexual themes are advertised using appropriate words and images.

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Civil liability of an advertising distributor

Civil liability in advertising activities is regulated by both civil and advertising laws. If, for example, an illegal poster violates the rights and legitimate interests of third parties, then these persons have the right to seek judicial protection. In court, you can demand restoration of the violated right by:

• compensation for direct losses
• receiving lost profits
• compensation for moral damage
• public refutation of false information specified in advertising

Thus, the civil liability of the advertising distributor arises for causing harm and damage to both property and non-property interests.

Administrative liability for inappropriate advertising

Individuals and legal entities, in case of violation of the Federal Law “On Advertising,” may be subject to administrative liability. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for administrative punishment for both the advertiser and the distributor and manufacturer of advertising. As a rule, administrative liability is of a material nature, since the vast majority of sanctions applied as punishment consist of imposing a fine on the guilty person.

The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation establishes the following fines for inappropriate advertising:

• for individuals – from 2000 rubles. up to 2500 rub.
• for officials – from 4000 rubles. up to 20,000 rub.
• for legal entities – from 100,000 rubles. up to 500,000 rub.

An exception is Article 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, according to which, in addition to a fine, confiscation of products and equipment used for the production of prohibited advertising is allowed.

Criminal liability for violation of advertising laws

In accordance with Art. 38 of the Federal Law “On Advertising” establishes civil and administrative liability for violations of advertising laws. In addition, Part 5 of this article states that federal laws may establish other measures of liability. Other measures of liability should be understood as criminal. It is worth noting that in the criminal code of the Russian Federation until 2003 there was an article providing for criminal liability for knowingly false advertising placed for mercenary reasons and causing significant damage to the victim. At present, neither the criminal law nor other regulatory legal acts apply such a measure of liability, although it may be restored in the future.

Which areas of the Internet are subject to the Advertising Law?

The FAS RF believes that for the purposes of applying the Law on Advertising, advertising distributed on the Internet means advertising posted on Internet sites registered in domain zones:

• .ru;
• .su;
• .rf.
• on Russian-language pages of sites in other zones (.com, .net, .org, etc.).

According to Part 7 of Art.
38 of the Law on Advertising, responsibility for violating a number of its provisions (in particular, for violating the ban on advertising alcohol on the Internet) lies with the advertising distributor, who, in accordance with Art. 3 of this law is a person who distributes advertising in any way, in any form and using any means. Since the owner (administrator) of the site fills the site with information and has the rights of moderator of the posted information, he must be recognized as an advertising distributor.

You can identify the person who is the owner of the site by contacting the domain name registrar who registered the site under a certain person. You can install a site registrar in the Runet zone through the help service www.cctld.ru or www.kts.rf.

In the .com, .net, .org zones – through the help service www.whois.net. By contacting the registrar, you can obtain the name and contact information of the person who owns the website on the Internet.

LETTER of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation dated 03.08.2012 No. AK/24981 “On advertising of alcoholic products on the Internet and print media”

What to do if you are accused of illegal advertising?

If you are accused of illegal advertising, you will need to take a number of consistent actions to protect your interests.

1. Read the accusation. The first thing you need to do is to study the documents that indicate the recorded violation
2. Determine whether a violation exists. After studying the documents, it is necessary to draw a conclusion about the establishment of the fact of an offense or its absence.
3. Prepare a defense position. In the event of an unfounded accusation, the defense’s position will be to prove the legality of its actions. When placing illegal advertising, the defense can be based on refuting the opponent’s arguments, indicating the absence of damage, etc.
4. Voice and defend your position. Regardless of whether the case is being considered in court or an administrative body, clearly stating your position on a controversial issue can lead to a positive result