One of the most graphic examples happened in 2008 in Los Angeles. The company DANONE was sued for false advertisement regarding one of it's brands – Activia. The court obligated the company to change its marketing strategy regarding this product, to pay a $35 million fine, and $100 compensation to every person …show more content…
The advertisement message that Activia is a healthy product, which can even help improve one’s digestive system has turned out to be false. Furthermore, this claim has no scientific proof. More so, the product contains many chemicals and sweeteners, which makes it unhealthy and even harmful for one’s health. Based on 54 § of the US Code it is unlawful to make advertisement claims which will mislead people through the use of baseless and deliberately false information. Moreover, the law requires all products be labeled with information regarding all of its components and ingredients, terms of use, and information about the producer. A law states that any advertisement should be truthful, not misleading, and backed with scientific evidence when deemed appropriate. The above-described DANONE advertisement case shows how consumer protection laws work in practice in their best …show more content…
On the one hand, consumers should stand for their rights and bring such cases to law enforcement which has to protect people. At the same time, the law has to develop constantly and adjust to those tricks in order to protect consumers. In the case of DANONE, the law protected people from false advertisement and justice was ensured. Nevertheless, in other cases, the law is not that successful and it does not protect people from false advertisement as often as it should. This is why false and misleading advertisement should be banned and constantly monitored. Additionally, it is important to consider that some people can be manipulated easier than others. On the other hand, people choose whether to believe various advertisements or not. That is why it is important to be mindful of personal responsibility and culpability. People should be more attentive and evaluate the messages they get. We should not be relieved of personal responsibility even in the case of false advertisement or an advertisement based on logical fallacies. To avoid such situations people should independently analyze these messages. More precisely, marketers are not scientists to claim that something will improve your health. The fact that the picture says something, it does not require people to believe in that. That is why before buying something based on