Quick questions on Ethical and legal aspects of marketing: consumer law, advertising standards and ethical conduct (HSC Business Studies)

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics is the self-regulatory code for advertising content. It is administered by the Advertising Standards Bureau (now Ad Standards). Complaints from any member of the public are heard.

Advertising goods at a special price without sufficient stock to meet expected demand is prohibited. Similarly false "free" or "gift" claims.

Goods supplied to consumers come with statutory guarantees that they:

Services come with guarantees of due care and skill, fitness for purpose, and reasonable time for supply.

The Federal Court fined Volkswagen $125 million for misleading conduct - the diesel vehicles contained software that detected test conditions and altered emissions performance, while the vehicles were marketed as meeting Australian emissions standards. The judgement was a landmark for misleading-conduct enforcement.

Trivago was found to have misled consumers about its hotel-price comparison rankings, which favoured advertisers' deals rather than the cheapest deal as suggested in advertising. Penalty of $44.7 million.

Lorna Jane fined $5 million for misleading health claims about anti-virus activewear during the Covid pandemic. The "anti-virus activewear" claim was unsupported by evidence.

Uber paid $21 million in penalties for misleading conduct on the Australian app - the cancellation-fee warning suggested a fee would apply when in many cases it would not.

Several rounds of enforcement and undertakings around marketed v actual NBN speeds.

Misleading consumers about their consumer-guarantee rights after vehicle faults. Refund obligations re-stated.

Cover the law, the penalty regime, examples of effective enforcement, the limitations, and an evaluation.