Since 2016, the Consumer Council of Fiji has received 155 complaints with more than $191,931 regarding misleading advertisements.
Chief Executive, Premila Kumar is urging the public to beware of misleading advertisements when shopping in supermarkets.
Kumar says this call comes in light of the market surveillances they carried out.
She says the survey uncovered a prominent supermarket in Labasa that advertised a 4litre Dukes Canola Oil at $10.87 and was slashed to a special price of $10.85 for the promotion period from the 26th to the 29th of April.
Kumar says the council noted the normal price of $10.87 is rounded off and the consumer will pay $10.85 regardless and there was no special price.
She adds in another case, a supermarket promoted their Punjas 2kg dhal with a sale notice “was $3.34 now $1.55” however the actual shelf price for this product was $2.26.
Kumar says in this case, consumers were led to believe by buying the product at $1.55 they are getting this product for half value of what it was selling for.
She mentioned that this is no longer tolerable, as complaints of such nature have become a norm and this is daylight robbery of consumers’ money.
The Council reiterated that traders must refrain from sale gimmicks and deceptive trading intended to lure consumers into choosing or spending more at their supermarkets.
