Fairness Commission: Unfair Disparagement
Anyone who compares themselves and their performance to others using inaccurate and unnecessarily hurtful statements is acting unfairly. The Swiss Fair Trading Commission emphasizes this in a recent case.
In Switzerland, comparative advertising is generally permitted. However, according to the Commission, some points must be observed: The product or service must be comparable, no facts may be suppressed, one must not profit from the good image of another, and above all, the statement must not be unnecessarily hurtful.
This last fact was the subject of a complaint filed with the Swiss Fairness Commission (SLK) by the Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse (umbrella organization of the Travellers) against advertisements of a goldsmith. The complaint warns against 80 to 90 percent of the buyers of old gold, who "lie about everything" when buying gold. In many cases, they are travellers who have no knowledge whatsoever of jewelry and gold. According to Principle No. 3.5 of the Swiss Commission for Fairness and Art. 3 lit. e UWG, such statements are unnecessarily disparaging, even if they originate in factual circumstances that may be correct.
The SLK wrote: "Such statements, the effect of which is to disparage the performance of competitors, are unfair and violate the above-mentioned facts. The Third Chamber of the Commission left open whether the advertisement also violated the criminal offense of racial discrimination.
