In: Economics
Jordan Motors, Inc., opens a dealership in Frankfurt,
West Germany, selling American cars. In its advertising campaign,
Jordan claims that for the next two weeks only, it will beat the
price on any comparable German car by 1,000 euros. Faced with this
threat to its market share, Hartman Autos, A. G., slashes its
prices to cost. Andrea Giebbels comes to Jordan’s showroom with a
written quote of Hartman’s price for its bottom-of-the-line German
car and demands that Jordan sell her 20 of its bottom-of-the-line
American cars for a substantial loss. Jordan refuses.
If Hartman sues, can it have Jordan's advertising campaign enjoined?
Answer:-
False Advertising:
An advertisement which offers false information that is potentially misleads the readers or viewers are termed as a false advertisement.
However, the content of the advertisement has to be proved as deceitful and not mere puffery in order to consider it a false advertisement.
FG cannot get the cars at the price quoted by H because of the fact the advertisement has to be considered as mere puffery and not deceitful.
Though J advertised that he will be beating the price on any comparable car by 1000 Euros, he has used a word “Comparable” which is vague.
Thus, J had not made an exact promise to sell a certain goods at a certain price. Also, the FG, the customer brought the advertisement issued by H and demands J’s cars at the same price. Hence, FG had failed to provide sufficient proof for claiming the cars.
Therefore, FG cannot claim J’s cars on the basis of advertisement issued by H.