- •Міністерство науки і освіти
- •Isbn 966-638-078-1 ©
- •Contents
- •Law like love
- •W. H. Auden
- •Marriage Law, Marriage as a Contract,
- •Introduction to consumer law
- •Influences on consumers
- •1. Answer the questions:
- •2. Problem-solving.
- •3. Problem-solving.
- •4. Problem-solving.
- •3. Read the text and answer the questions. Ads that appeal to our emotions
- •1. Answer the questions:
- •2. Say in a few words what the text is about.
- •3. Problem-solving.
- •Consumer protection agencies and organizations
- •3. Problem-solving.
- •4. Problem-solving.
- •Advertising agencies
- •Advertising.
- •How laws protect the consumer
- •Federal Law
- •State Law
- •Local Law
- •1. Answer the questions:
- •1. Problem-solving.
- •2. Role-plays.
- •General
- •Advertising and the consumer
- •1. Answer the questions:
- •2. Say in a few words what the text is about.
- •Techniques of persuasion
- •Sale of goods
- •Недобросовісна реклама.
- •The 'Thrill' of Theft
- •1 __
- •2 __
- •4 __
- •5 __
- •3 __
- •4 __
- •Marriage Law, Marriage as a Contract,
- •Introduction to family law
- •Bringing Up a Family
- •Part of the Family
- •Family rights and obligations
- •Reading 3: marriage law
- •I'm My Own Grandpa.
- •United states 'career brides'
- •Reading 5. “I’ll marry you but only on a few conditions …”
- •List of rules
- •When Clifford met Annie
- •Marriage contract
- •I. The Benefits
- •II. The Prohibitions
- •III. To Whom Appeal is Made
- •IV. The Remedies Resolution and reconciliation:
- •Шлюбний контракт-сімейному щастю не завада.
- •Reading 6: divorce law
- •Ukrainians are divorcing less
- •The Scope of Parental Rights and Duties
- •Family rights and obligations
- •Author says new family code is based on real-life cases. New code strengthens women's hand in marital disputes
- •Give peace a chance, judge orders couple
- •Marriage counselling
- •Marriage mediation
- •2.6. Review. Language and grammar focus
- •The family: relationships
- •The ageing population
- •Tapescripts
Advertising and the consumer
Advertising is everywhere. Each day, American consumers are bombarded by ads on radio and television, in newspapers and magazines, on billboards and bus shelters, even on blimps in the air and benches in the park.
The United States has always been a commercial society; but in recent years advertising has become more widespread. In 1992, over $130 billion was spent on advertising in the mass media, and this doesn't include non-mass-media advertising like direct mail ads. Advertising has also become more persistent and intrusive. As a result, people sometimes try to avoid advertising by flipping the channel during TV commercials or tossing unopened junk mail into the trash can.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects advertising as an expression of free speech. However; courts have ruled that government may regulate and even prohibit certain types of advertising. One of the most controversial types of advertising involves tobacco. Tobacco advertising is controversial because smoking is the nation's leading preventable cause of death. More people die from smoking each year than from AIDS, accidents, fires, homicides, suicides, and drunk driving combined. As a result, there have been efforts to eliminate or restrict tobacco advertising. In 1972, tobacco advertising was prohibited on radio and television, but it is still allowed in magazines, in newspapers, and on billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising. Tobacco ads on billboards are particularly controversial. Unlike newspapers and magazines, which can be ignored or thrown away, billboards make the American public a "captive audience" to huge, intrusive ads that can't be voided. What's more, numerous studies have shown that more billboards are located in neighborhoods where poor people live than elsewhere.
Advertising can, of course, be beneficial. For example, merchants use advertising to tell potential customers about their products. Ads can also help consumers by telling them about new goods and services, and by providing other useful information. Although ads can be helpful, they can also mislead, deceive, and confuse.
Ads sometimes mislead consumers through vague claims or, in a few cases, outright lies. Other times, ads try to create a desire for products that consumers don't really need or want. Many ads appeal to emotion rather than provide the kind of factual information needed to make a wise buying decision.
The federal and state governments have laws that prohibit false or deceptive advertising. However, these laws are difficult to enforce, and deception can take many forms.
When the public is widely exposed to a misleading ad, the FTC can order the seller to stop the false advertising. It can also order corrective advertising. This means that the advertiser must admit the deception in all future ads for a specified period of time. For example, a well-known mouthwash company advertised that its product cured sore throats and colds. When an investigation proved this claim false, the FTC ordered that all new ads state that the previous claims were untrue.
Although, as a general rule, false or misleading ads are illegal, one type of ad is an exception to this rule. Ads based on the seller's opinion, personal taste, or obvious exaggeration are called puffing. While perhaps not literally true, ads that puff are not illegal. For example, a used car dealer that advertises the "World's Best Used Cars" is engaged in puffing. A reasonable person should know better than to rely on the truthfulness of such a statement. Similarly, announcing a sale at a furniture store, an ad reads: "2,750 items of furniture have to disappear tonight." This ad is not literally true; but again, a reasonable consumer should understand that it is just “seller's talk."
In contrast, consider an ad that reads: "Giant Sale Top-Quality CD Players, formerly $300, now just $225." If the compact disc players were never sold at $300 and could have been purchased anytime for $225, this ad is illegal. It misleads consumers about an important fact concerning the product. The ad is not puffing, because it is not based on the seller's opinion, personal taste, or obvious exaggeration.
The difference between illegal advertising and puffing may be small, so consumers should be on guard. If an ad tends to mislead about an important fact concerning the product, it is illegal; but if the ad is merely an exaggeration or a nonspecific opinion, it is probably puffing and legal.