Objective Conditions Announced in Advertising Bind Advertisers to Consumers

Advertising is understood as any means, form, or content of communication intended to influence consumer decisions. This may include objective and subjective elements, which differ in that the former can be verified or checked, while the latter cannot be compared and usually consist of abstract ideas whose truth or falsity cannot be determined.
Therefore, the law provides that advertisers shall be liable for the objective elements of their advertising, which must represent the reality of the product or service offered. Otherwise, we may be facing a case of misleading advertising, since the advertisement would lead the consumer into error, according to the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce.
Thus, the information received by the consumer or user must be provided under conditions that do not lead them into error when making the decision to purchase a good or contract a specific service, since once they have assessed the objective elements corresponding to the offer of the good or service with respect to the conditions under which they intend to acquire it, they will make a decision that influences their economic behavior.
In this regard, the objective conditions announced in advertising by advertisers bind them to consumers and, on the other hand, they shall be liable for damages caused by the misleading advertising they disseminate. The prohibition of misleading advertising aims to protect the consumer, as they are the weak party in the consumer contractual relationship and, therefore, the one who can be easily deceived by whoever advertises a good or service.
If the advertiser or provider of the good or service does not comply with the objective and specific conditions announced in their advertising, they would be infringing the consumer protection rules set forth in the Consumer Statute (Law 1480/11), and such infringement entails fines and sanctions of up to 2,000 current legal monthly minimum wages.

Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, Concept 21473069, 07/12/2021.