Maxim Ali has talked with RBC about the willingness of companies to violate advertising legislation

The St Petersburg department of FAS Russia fined McDonalds Corporation 110,000 roubles for a lack of consumer-relevant information in its advertisement. Stating that on the advertising banner of a combo lunch for a fixed price there was an image of sauce, which in fact was not part of the offer. This is not the first time that a restaurant’s advertising message diverges from reality. In 2017, the FAS fined a similar amount to Burger Rus LLC because a restaurant visitor was not given a free cherry pie as promised by an advertisement.

“The fine print is no longer a panacea for claims. There are many cases where the FAS ignored the existence of detailed conditions in small print, because such text was not seem by consumers, for example, on billboards or in the metro” said Maxim Ali, Head of the IP/IT Practice at Maxima Legal.

According to the lawyer, for some companies a fine of 100,000 – 500,000 roubles is small compared to high returns. Sometimes an unlawful slogan can generate more returns than promotions through TB advertising or from a well-known blogger, Maxim explained.

To read the full article (in Russian) please see the website of RBC Petersburg >>>