A brand using comparative advertising to boast lower prices than its competitors must clearly indicate, if such is the case, that the comparison was made between shops of different sizes or formats, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on Wednesday 8 February.
This case (C-562/15) concerns a dispute in France between the brands Carrefour and Intermarché. The former launched an advertising campaign comparing the prices of 500 products from major brands found in its shops and in rival outlets, including those of Intermarché.
In the second televised advertisement, which is behind this case, the Intermarché shops selected for the comparison were all supermarkets, whilst the Carrefour shops were all hypermarkets. This information appeared only in smaller letters beneath the name Intermarché.
The Court took the view that there is clearly a risk that the objectivity of such a comparison is distorted if the advertiser and its competitors belong to brands each owning a range of shops in different sizes and formats and the comparison does not relate to the same sizes and formats. This means that in order for an advertisement of this kind to comply with EU law, the Court recommends that the information on the difference between the size and format of the shops is not only clearly provided, but also included in the advertising message itself.
It is for the national jurisdiction (the Court of Appeal of Paris) to determine whether these criteria have been met in the televised Carrefour advertisement. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)