Guidelines for the Retail Sector on Price Promotions
Clear Product Descriptions (e.g. in the Furniture Industry)
The Consumer Protection Act prohibits a consumer from being misled in relation to "the main characteristics of a product, including... its composition, ingredients, components or accessories".
Some retailers tend to advertise furniture products by reference to the main constituent from which the item had been manufactured e.g. leather, mahogany, pine, etc.
If these items contain parts made from synthetic materials such as PVC or processed wood, this should be made clear to the consumer, as otherwise the advertisement could be regarded as a misleading practice prohibited by the Consumer Protection Act 2007.
A misleading practice could arise, if the synthetic elements of the furniture (or other products) are labelled by the use of obscure or ambiguous descriptions such as "leather match" or in the case of wooden furniture, MDF.
In summary, care must be taken that consumers are not misled. For instance, products produced from a combination of the primary constituent such as leather or wood (oak, teak, mahogany etc) and synthetic materials such as PVC products, laminated wood, MDF etc. should be clearly identified as such.
The synthetic materials used to complement the leather or solid wood parts should be referred to by the commonly identifiable descriptions rather than some alternative names that could mislead the consumer in relation to the product description.
Factual and accurate information should also be provided if the marketing of the product refers to the manufacturing process.
If a dining room suite is advertised as "hand carved solid mahogany" the consumer should be able to assume that each item is solid mahogany and has been hand carved.
Traders who advertise furniture as "pine" must ensure that this is the case and that it has not been manufactured from deal.
<< Previous Back to Contents Next >>