False Advertising

Feb 01, 2010 Editorial

Under the watchful eyes (not to mention the conditionalities of loan disbursement and debt forgiveness) of the IMF and World Bank, our economy has been “liberalised”. While we are still awaiting the promised deluge of foreign investment that were said to be contingent on that liberalisation, it is very obvious that our local business class still envisage themselves essentially as merchants rather than manufacturers or agro-processors.

The most visible sign of the liberalising regime has been a veritable explosion of shops, restaurants, boutiques, markets, supermarkets, malls, rum-shops, bars, clubs, stores, department stores, vendors, electronic stores, etc., not only in Georgetown but all across the country. Even in the most humble hamlet, a shack that hawks blouses is not out of place.

What this profusion of merchandising outlets has created in our very small market (remember our population has been hovering around 750,000 for nearly half a century) is a glut in almost every category of goods one may think about. And this in turn (following the script of the liberalising gurus) has precipitated a rather cut-throat competition among the merchants to lure customers into their emporiums. Unfortunately, but inevitably, the throat-cutting has extended to the unsuspecting customers, clutching their hard-earned (or pitifully overseas-solicited) dollars.

One of the most popular lures of the merchants has been the “bait-and-switch” advertisement in both the electronic and print media. The latter, not so incidentally, are enjoying an unprecedented boom – unlike their overseas counterparts – because of the life-or-death compulsion by merchants to advertise.

In the “bait-and-switch” scam, an item – say a DVD deemed desirable with consumers – is advertised at an incredibly low price (the “bait”) to get the customer into the store. Once there, the customer (with his tongue hanging out) is (sadly) informed that the item has either sold out or the sale is over but (hurrah!) there is another item on which he can get a great deal (the “switch”). There are all kinds of variants on this theme, customised to the particular goods being peddled – financial institutions with their vagueness on interest payments; telephone companies with haziness on billing of “minutes’ used etc.

These false or deceptive advertising are a combination of a failure of a responsible business ethic and a vacuum in the regulation of commerce in the new liberalised era. While some may assert that the only ethic of business is to earn a profit, in the long run their sharp practices will redound to their detriment.

Not every customer will accept with equanimity the “bait-and-switch’ routine once they realise they have been gypped. On the other hand, the merchant may assert that in the absence of a legal framework that prohibits and imposes sanctions on such behaviour, they are in full compliance with the law. And this is where the responsibility of the government kicks in.

Over two and a half years ago, in our editorial “Consumer Protection” we noted: “The consumer in Guyana has not had a very propitious history. This may hearken back to his origins as a slave or bondsman who was expected to be quite thankful for whatever goods came his way. The watchword has always been, “caveat emptor” – let the buyer beware. All of this, hopefully, is about to change.

Just before it was dissolved (March 2006), our Parliament passed the long awaited, Consumer Protection Bill, and once the President signs it (which ought to be any day now) it will become the law of the land. And a new day will dawn for Guyanese consumers – if they take time to know their rights and insist that those rights be respected in the marketplace.”

For some reason that we do not believe has been divulged to the Guyanese public, the President has not signed the Bill into law. Consequently, the promised Consumer Affairs Commission that is mandated to give explicit protection against Unfair Trade Practices (among other protections) has not seen the light of day. We emphasise that corporate social responsibility has to be supplemented with government regulation. The Consumer Protection Act must be signed into law. Economic liberalisation does not mean giving carte blanche to businesses engaging in false advertising, among other excesses.

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