Component Price Advertising – Changes to the Trade Practices Act for Advertising in Australia.

It’s about time the regulators changed the way advertisers dish up prices to consumers in this country. Obviously advertisers want us to buy, that’s why they do what they do, but why not tell consumers the TOTAL COST of a purchase. Take motor vehicles for example. “$29990 + dealer delivery and government statutory charges’. That can add thousands to the total purchase price. You could rephrase it “$1000 for the tyres + car +  dealer delivery and government statutory charges”. It’s a bit silly – I know – but it emphasises Component Pricing – something rampant in real estate and motor vehicle advertising.

The ACCC recently clamped down on this sort of behavior in the telecommunications sector, so now they’re moving on to other industries.

On May 25 the law in Australia changed. So what do the new laws require?
In short, where a corporation makes a price representation to consumers, it may only use a component price (part of the total price) if it also ‘prominently’ specifies the ‘single (total) price’ payable for the good or service (where a single figure price is quantifiable).

Let’s see what happens now. Next the ACCC should target these bloody cash-back deals. They’re on the rise at the moment and a complete pain in the ass. Consumers have to jump through hoops and wait months to receive their offer – and why? Why don’t they just discount the product at the point of sale. As someone who’s been making ads for 25 years, have I missed something here??

Read more details here.

~ by andrewmccolm on May 28, 2009.