The consumer watchdog is taking Samsung to court, accusing the technology company of misleading consumers by telling them that many of the four million Galaxy phones sold in Australia were water resistant, while knowing they were not.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted federal court proceedings against Samsung, alleging the electronics giant misled and deceived customers with its claims about various Galaxy phones across more than 300 advertisements since February 2016.
Ads across social media, online, TV, billboards, brochures and other media depicted the phones as being water resistant and showed them being used at pools and beaches, while Samsung also advertised them as being water resistant up to 1.5 metres for 30 minutes.
One ad showed a phone being used under water at a pool, another described “capturing your Sunday surf session at the beach”, and another showed a man floating on an inflatable with a water-splashed phone on his sternum.
The ACCC said the ads were false, misleading and deceptive, because the phones were not suitable for use in all types of water, which Samsung acknowledged on its website by advising against using the Galaxy S10 at the beach or a pool.
“Samsung showed the Galaxy phones used in situations they shouldn’t be to attract customers,” the ACCC commissioner, Rod Sims, said on Thursday……..read more
Source: The Guardian
