CPFTA

Under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, it is an unfair practice for a retailer to make false or misleading claims. Likewise, one of the general principles of the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice is that of truthful presentation.

From SCAP Chapter II ("General Principles"), Clause 5 ("Truthful presentation"):

5.1 Advertisements should not mislead in any way by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise. more specifically, advertisements should not:

  1. Misrepresent any matter likely to influence consumers’ attitude to any product, advertiser, or promoter;
  2. Misrepresent any information to mislead consumers into believing any matter that is not true, such as the source of the product, quality of the product, obligation (or non-obligation) in using a trial product, and others;
  3. Mislead consumers about the price of goods or services;
  4. Underestimate the actual total price to be paid;
  5. Mislead consumers to overestimate the value or mislead consumers regarding the conditions on the terms of payment such as hire purchase, leasing, installment sales and credit sales; or
  6. Mislead consumers regarding the terms or guarantee, delivery, exchange, return, repair and maintenance; and mislead consumers regarding the extent of benefits for charitable causes.

5.2 If a presentation (such as a speech, documentary and newsreel) is substantially an advertisement, it should be clearly stated as an advertisement.

5.3 Claims

  1. Advertisements should not misuse research results or quotations from technical and scientific publications.
  2. Statistics should not be so presented so as to imply a greater validity that they really have.
  3. Scientific terms should not be misused; scientific jargon and irrelevancies should not be used to make claims appear to have any scientific basis which they do not possess.