Baby Bunting Marketplace - Advertising Guidelines

Purpose

This document sets out considerations for third-party marketplace sellers in relation to your material covering potential pitfalls when advertising and selling your products under the Australian Consumer Law.

This document is not legal advice.  You should seek your own legal advice in respect of your specific obligations under the Australian Consumer Law and other applicable Australian laws in relation to products you offer or sell on the Baby Bunting marketplace. 

This document is intended as a guide to assist third-party marketplace sellers to be aware of some of the issues and considerations when you offer or sell products on the Baby Bunting marketplace.   

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has information that third-party marketplace sellers may find helpful in relation to selling and advertising products: https://www.accc.gov.au/business

What is the Australian Consumer Law and Why is it important

The Australian Consumer Law applies to everything you do to promote or sell your goods and services. It includes the representations you make in the Baby Bunting Marketplace and in communications with your customers. 

The Australian Consumer Law mandates, among other things, that you must not engage in conduct that is misleading, deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive or make false representations. The key is to think about the overall impression that you create in the mind of your customers.  

Part of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and regulates consumers’ rights and businesses’ conduct in relation to, among other things:

• Consumer safety;
• Advertising and selling to consumers;
• Consumer rights in relation to goods and services

It exists to protect consumers against unfair business practices and unsafe goods and services.

It is uniform across Australia and applies to your actions, products and conduct. 

Product Claims

A product claim is a statement about a product which can include claims about a product’s qualities, origins, ingredients, characteristics, benefits or uses. Such claims can be verbal or written and can appear anywhere – on packaging, in product description on the website.

A seller risks engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct if products are sold with unsubstantiated product claims. 

Here are a few matters to consider in preparing product descriptions or statements about products:

• Does the overall impression match the facts? 
• Is the statement true, clear, and accurate?
• Do you have evidence to substantiate the claim (for example, independent third party reports supporting any claims about the product’s qualities or performance)?

A.         Claims and statements to be assessed from the perspective of customers

Great care must be taken when making statements on which others rely - ensure that what is written or stated about a product (or what is not said in some situations) does not create a false or misleading impression.

• Remember who your target customers are and consider it from their perspective. 
• Images can also be misleading so ensure that the image used accurately represents the product. 
• Do not leave out any important information.
• Look at the overall impression created by the advertising or packaging (a statement which is technically true may still be misleading).

B.         Claims and statements must have a reasonable basis

• Claims should be based on accurate and reliable information – can you prove that the claims are true, and correct?
• Where the claim is about a matter not readily obvious, ensure the supporting material is reasonable (i.e., independent, clear, and recent).
• If there is no objective and reasonable support for the claim, you may need to act, for example:
  1. change the wording on the marketplace website; and/or
  2. arrange for the packaging to be changed.

C.         Particular claims

There are certain claims that require particular care and diligence as customers cannot check these claims themselves, i.e., they rely on your diligence in getting these claims right. Particular claims may require additional care and support, such as environmental claims, country of origin claims, fibre content claims and other premium and credence claims.

Examples of claims that may require particular evidence to substantiate are set out below:

a)         Premium & credence claims

Premium and credence claims are claims which give the impression that a product or one of its attributes has some kind of added benefit when compared to similar products in the market - these require extra care and thought. This includes claims such as: organic, natural, pure, safe, 100%, free [from], genuine, boutique, environmentally friendly.

b)         Country of origin claims
 
A country of origin claim can be anything that gives an impression about where goods are made or produced, including statements, labelling, packaging, logos, pictures.

 Country of origin claims include statements such as Made in Australia, Italian-made, Assembled in..., Manufactured in... Customers usually put a premium to products that are locally made, so it is important to be careful to not mislead your customers if the product is in fact not locally made.

 If a country-of-origin claim is to be made, legal tests apply to work out the correct country of origin of goods (refer below). If a claim does not pass the legal test, then a more qualified claim needs to be made.

Comparison Pricing 

It may be illegal to advertise a product discount unless it is a genuine discount for a limited time.  It may also be illegal to advertise a product price in comparison to a recommended retail price (RRP) where the RRP is not a genuine statement of the supplier’s recommended retail price. 

Businesses using statements such as ‘savings’ or ‘discounts’ when comparing a sale price to the RRP of goods and services may convey to potential customers that they are getting a good deal because the sale price is less than the RRP. If the product has never been previously sold at the RRP, or the RRP does not reflect a current market price, then this type of comparison may, depending on the circumstances, misrepresent the savings that may be achieved.

Sellers are encouraged to consider the guidance provided by the ACCC, including the Advertising and selling guide (A guide for business) – July 2021. (https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/advertising-and-selling-guide)

Safe sleeping image guide 

Sellers have a vital role to play in ensuring that products supplied are shown in a way that promotes their safe use. Consumers may generally be unaware of product safety risks and are reliant on sellers to provide accurate safety information.

Red Nose has released a Safe Sleep Image Guide (https://rednose.org.au/article/safe-sleep-image-guide) designed to help advertisers, marketers, and social media influencers to demonstrate safe sleeping.

Baby Bunting supports the Safe Sleep Image Guide. Sellers must ensure that the images of products offered for sale on the marketplace conform with the guidelines provided by Red Nose.