Dell Accused of False Advertising in the UK
July
2007A United Kingdom advertising standards group has accused
Texas-based Dell of false advertising, and stipulated that all printer
vendors should include the cost of cables in advertised prices of
systems.The Advertising Standards Authority called Dell to task July 10
for a common practice among print and IT vendors, saying it failed to
include the cable costs in its ads. The group ordered Dell to make
amends for a newspaper ad for the vendor’s Photo All-In-One Printer 926
that failed to include the cost of the cable in the price.Dell claimed
it assumed most customers would already have such a cable and would not
need to buy a new one, but the ASA called the omission a violation of
the Committees of Advertising Practice and ordered it to clear up the
claims.The ASA, whose powers extend to UK advertising content only,
said in an e-mail that they expect their wishes to be noticed and that
if Dell chooses to ignore the ASA’s ruling, they might decide to send
the complaint over to the Office of Fair Trading, which is able to
prosecute advertisers under the Control of Misleading Advertisements
Regulations.”The point here is that we consider that consumers would
expect the cable to be included in that package unless it was otherwise
stated,” said Donna Mitchell, a spokesperson for the ASA.Rob Enderle,
an analyst with the Enderle Group, said the case could change the way
technology and consumer electronics are advertised.”Game systems, DVD
players and VCRs also often do not include cables and will likely be
hit by similar rulings,” Enderle said. “It just means the industry will
need to be more transparent with regard to what is and is not included.
Strangely enough, it probably will lead to happier customers for the
firms who were not providing the cables in the first place.”