Calls rise to tighten noose on misleading advertisements

AMMAN — False or misleading advertisements have been on the rise, leading to customer dissatisfaction, according to marketing experts.

They said full disclosure of all information, including price, is crucial in the marketing field where consumers expect to make informed decisions. 

“Not listing prices is frustrating for customers and there is no benefit from it,” Mahmoud Shobaki, a social media user, told The Jordan Times. 

Shobaki added that he recently encountered this when shopping for office supplies.

“I would have purchased something already if they had just shown me the price,” Shobaki said.

Meanwhile Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply spokesperson  Yanal Barmawi said that the Industry, Trade and Supply Law obliges shops to declare the prices of goods in accordance with the provisions of Article 11 of the law, which stipulates that “each trader must visibly put the price of each commodity for sale”.

“The ministry is currently developing a comprehensive e-commerce strategy,” Barmawi added. 

Barmawi said that under Article 13 B of the Industry, Trade and Supply Law, anyone who commits a violation of Article 11 of the law shall be punished with a fine of no less than JD100 and no more than JD500.

Ameer Sunna, a marketing specialist, said that false or misleading advertisements can be used as an “underhanded tactic”.

“This tactic gets people to invest time and energy so that when they do finally find out the price, they are more committed due to the time and energy they invested,” Sunna said.

However, truthful facts help customers make better decisions, said Sunna. 

Marketing specialist Bayan Odeh said that listing the prices will give competitors an edge by handing them the opportunity to under-cut price their competitor’s price.

“Listing prices makes it easy for a customer to disqualify a retailer,” Odeh added. 

On the other hand, Odeh said that forcing contact between the buyer and the seller allows the seller to follow up on the prospective buyer. For example, if a customer has to contact an employee to get information, she said. 

“Customer is likely to be added to the company’s customer relation management (CRM) system,” said Odeh. Potential customers will then be nurtured by the marketing department, receive follow-ups from the sales team and generally indicate to them that the customer is looking to buy, she added. 

“What you see in ads is not always what you get,” Hana Omar, a social media user, told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

Omar added that she bought a TV unit through an Instagram page and was very disappointed with the wood used to build the unit. “The carpenter definitely failed to deliver his promise. However, I couldn’t get my money back because there’s no entity that governs e-commerce sites,” said Omar.