A lie by any other name?

Is it a lie to rearrange possibly factual information to create a misleading impression of a product in comparison with others?

I've just come across advertising for Fischer Future Heat storage heaters and have found material that appears to push potentially vulnerable individuals towards solutions that may cost them more than they realise.

There are so many bent marketing ploys in place that it seems a shame to list them all at once. Instead I'd invite people to peruse the website and quote anything they find misleading.

Here's one for starters:

In a section that purports to compare gas and oil central heating with their plug-in storage heating products they instead make a comparison with inefficient open flue gas fires:

"Gas or oil central heating systems

Gas fires are the most inefficient way of heating. To get 1KW of heat from a typical fire you need to burn 2.5 to 3KW of gas. With a typical gas price of 3p this equates to 9p per KWH with huge waste through chimneys or flue."

from:

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Just the sort of tone and delivery that could confuse the vulnerable.

Other lies available at:

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The main point is, if you have any vulnerable relatives, it might be a good idea to advise them to be wary of TV advertised products that may not be altogether what they seem.

Reply to
fred
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Its not a lie, but it IS worth reporting to the advertising standards authority.

It costs nothing and even if you don't get a judgement, the mere fact of reporting it may cause the offending website or material to be modified.

I.e. all of them?

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

A number of misleading practices are an offence under The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. There is a guide to the Regulations here:

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If you think that they have been breached, you should report it to Trading Standards.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Sounds a bit like the old ploy when selling amplifiers of saying up to 40 watts music power. Up To and Music power basically mean it can produce enough power to just about hear it, but no more than 40 watts and even then, probably very distorted as the psu can't run it very ong!

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Hopefully any senior citizen will have their suspicions aroused by the poor spelling. I mean, "loosing" for losing and "maintainance" for maintenance. I'm sure there will be many other examples on other pages.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Assuming that they are any better at spelling (and/or typing) than half the people who contribute to the internet! I do agree that someone advertising should be expected to take more care, but if their readers don't appreciate that it is badly spelled, I am not surprised that they do not.

Reply to
polygonum

Absolutely agreed. I have made several reports over the years. One in particular did get taken further - even continuing across Europe. (Mind, I still don't know the final result!)

Reply to
polygonum

fred explained :

Wasn't this the same company that tried to suggest that their storage heaters were more efficient than other companies storage heaters?

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

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