Recently I have started to take notice of the small print on television advertisements and have found that many advertisements have a large amount of fine print outlining the true cost of items and the conditions. In some cases the fine print is more than 5 lines long and only shown for 5 seconds.

I would not consider myself a slow reader, but I can not seem to read some of this fine print. At times the impression is given that this fine print is not shown for the user to read and is only there for legal reasons.

The act of displaying a large amount of "fine print" for a short period of time surely is discriminatory to television viewers that are not as fast at reading as other people.

There have been cases where I would not have taken an action if I or anyone around me had been able to read the fine print.

I guess that in many cases the "fine print" can be read on very large television sets, but most people have TV sets that are not the largest possible. This further hinders the readability of the fine print.

I just wait for some company employee to come back with the line "It was in the fine print" when I was unable to read the fine print in the first place.

Advertising Standards Complaints Board response

Thank you for your email. I note your points in relation to the use of fine print, particularly in relation to television commercials. The Advertising Standards Complaints Board has upheld a number of complaints on this issue and commented in the past on the need for care when using fine print in TVCs. The Fair Trading Act also applies to advertising that may be misleading.

If you have a particular advertisement you wish to complain about you can do so via our website and we will request a copy of the advertisement and consider your complaint.

The ASA Code of Ethics requires that all advertising is truthful. Rule 2 says:

Truthful Presentation - Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation or create an overall impression which directly or by implication, omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim is misleading or deceptive, is likely to deceive or mislead the consumer, makes false and misleading representation, abuses the trust of the consumer or exploits his/her lack of experience or knowledge. (Obvious hyperbole, identifiable as such, is not considered to be misleading).

I hope this information is helpful.

Regards

Executive Director
Advertising Standards Authority