INTERRELATION OF MISLEADING ADVERTISING AND SOLUTIONS OF CONSUMERS: LEGAL REGULATION AND INSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND IN LITHUANIA

Abstract

In the current business world with a large variety of goods and services, advertising is becoming one of the most important instruments of existing and potential customers’ and visitors’ information, awareness and interest in the cause of persuasion. The company marketing depends primarily on different types of advertisements to enforce that their products are better or more sufficient than the competitors. Recently, the advertising grows over business economic interests – in advertising concepts are intertwined economics, sociology, psychology and aesthetics issues. For this reason, advertising interpretation is a complex problem because each person perceives the information in their own way, and the information itself is never completely objective. It is very important that advertising unfairness factor would always stay below a principle of justice. Advertisers, by submitting misleading advertising, which affects consumers‘ decisions, try unfairly convince consumers to believe in advertisers’ ideas, and thus affect the other person‘s ability to compete. By impact of misleading advertising consumers end up purchasing items at a higher price or at a lesser quality than they had intended. User’s interests are violated, while trying to suggest that the product or service has unique features - in this case the user gets manipulated to promote himself to accept disadvantageous decisions. In certain scenarios, misleading advertising may occur in order to boost an individual’s status as is the case with political advertising. Misleading advertising can occur in order to boost membership for instance through sporting clubs or church donations. As advertising has the potential to persuade people into commercial transactions that they might otherwise avoid, many governments around the world use regulations to control false, deceptive or misleading advertising. “Truth” refers to essentially the same concept, that customers have the right to know what they are buying. False advertising, in the most blatant of contexts, is illegal in most countries. However, advertisers still find ways to deceive consumers in ways that are legal, or technically illegal but unenforceable. Because of that reason, deep attention in the EU is paid for legal regulation of advertising in order to protect consumer rights, and not to damage their economic interests. It is prohibit for economic subjects to perform any acts contrary to fair business practices and good management of customs affairs, including the use of advertising, which in accordance with EU regulations and the laws of the Republic of Lithuania are considered misleading. EU tries to approximate the laws of the Member States on unfair commercial practices, including unfair advertising, which directly harm consumers’ economic interests and thereby indirectly harm the economic interests of legitimate competitors. EU tries to protect people from actions or omissions which by deceiving the consumer prevent him from making an informed and thus efficient choice. The article analyzes misleading advertising impact on the consumers’ decisions, with regard to consumer protection regulation in the EU and Lithuania within the framework of misleading advertising. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.6.1584