Fine print,
small print, or
"mouseprint" is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/09/a_web_site_that.html. The larger print that is used in conjunction with fine print is ingenuously used by the merchant to, in effect, deceive the consumer into believing the offer is more advantageous than it really is, via a
legal technicalityThe term legal technicality is a casual or colloquial phrase referring to a technical aspect of law. The phrase is not a term of art in the law; it has no exact meaning, nor does it have a legal definition...
which requires full disclosure of all (even unfavorable) terms or conditions, but does not specify the manner (size, typeface, coloring, etc.) of disclosure.
Fine print often says the opposite of what the larger print says. For example, if the larger print says "pre-approved" the fine print will say "subject to approval." Especially in pharmaceutical advertisements, fine print may accompany a warning message, but this message is often neutralized by the more eye-catching positive images and pleasant background music (
eye candyThe term Eye Candy or eye candy can refer to one of the following:*Attractiveness*Eye Candy , an album by Mis-Teeq*software "Eye Candy", a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks that adds new filter effects....
). Sometimes, television advertisements will flash text fine print in
camouflagicCamouflage is a method of crypsis that allows an otherwise visible organism or object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment through deception. Examples include a tiger's stripes and the battledress of a modern soldier...
colors, and for notoriously brief periods of time, making it difficult for the viewer to read.
The use of fine print has become a standard method of
advertisingAdvertising is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Frequently it communicates a message that includes the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer...
in certain industries, particularly those selling a higher-priced product or service, or a specialty item not found on the mainstream market, or involving a signed contract. The practice, for example, can be used to mislead the consumer in reference to an item's price, its value, or the nutritional content of a food product.
Industries often using fine print
The following industries are known to frequently use varying sizes of print in marketing their products or services:
In price deception
- Banking, including credit cards
- Telecommunication
Telecommunication is transmission over a distance for the purpose of communication. In earlier times, this may have involved the use of smoke signals, drums, semaphore, flags or heliograph. In modern times, telecommunication typically involves the use of electronic devices such as the telephone,...
, such as mobile phoneA mobile phone or mobile is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile telecommunications...
service
- Example: ... for just 5 cents a minute! first 3 minutes.
- Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle is a wheeled vehicle whose propulsion is provided by an engine or motor . The internal combustion engine is the most common motor choice, although electric motors or other types are sometimes used. Motor vehicles or road vehicles typically run on public roads...
sales
- Vehicle repair
An automobile repair shop is a place where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and electricians.- Types :Some auto parts stores also maintain service operations...
services
- Insurance
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed and known...
- Travel
Travel is the change in location of people on a trip through the means of transport from one location to another. Travel is most commonly for recreation , for business or for commuting; but may be for numerous other reasons, such as migration, fleeing war, etc...
, such as cruisesA cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each year...
- Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which specializes in satisfying a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
s. For example, Macy'sMacy's is a chain of mid-to-high range American department stores. Its selection of merchandise can vary significantly from location to location, resulting in the exclusive availability of certain brands in only higher-end stores...
has been criticized for offering a coupon that is said to be one of the worst forms of fine print ever seen http://consumerist.com/consumer/mouseprint/macys-issues-worst-coupon-ever-297725.php. The coupon, which offers tremendous discounts, excludes virtually all brands sold at the store.
Snuggie, and many other companies.
In product value deception
- Diet products
- For example, many ads have included effusive testimonials, dramatic before and after photos, and the small print "results not typical".
Controversial aspects
Fine print is controversial because of its deceptive nature. Its purpose is to make the consumer believe that the offer is really great. Though the real truth about the offer is "technically" available to the consumer in the smaller print of the advertisement—thus virtually ensuring
plausible deniabilityPlausible deniability refers to the denial of blame in loose and informal chains of command where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs. In the case that illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such act...
from claims of
fraudIn the broadest sense, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and is also a civil law violation....
—it is often designed to be overlooked. The unsuspecting customer, who can instantly see all the attractive aspects of the offer, will, due to natural impulsive behavior, time constraints, and/or personal need, generally not bother to learn the caveats, instead focusing on the positives of the deal.
Many offers, advertised in large print, only apply when certain conditions are met. In many cases, these conditions are difficult or nearly impossible to meet.
- For example, there are many infamous ads, mostly online, for "free" expensive electronics, while the small print mentions that offers must be completed, and smaller print describes the conditions.
In many cases, the business states in fine print that it reserves the right to modify the terms of the contract at any time with little or no advance notice. This controversial practice is often seen in the banking and insurance industries. It is also widely abused in
terms of useTerms of Use are reasons given by the owner and provider of a service to say when they will likely discontinue providing a service. They are generally specific disclaimers to add to blanket "we reserve the right to discontinue service at any time" claims....
statements and
privacy policiesA privacy policy is a legal document that disclose how a party retains, processes, discloses, and purges customer's data. Such examples could be the instance of a website providing information about the use of personal information - particularly personal information collected via the website - by...
. However, in early 2009, the federal case of
Harris v. Blockbuster, Inc. ruled that these "unilateral modification clauses" were illusory and, thus, unenforceable.
In some cases, the seller who uses this technique will engage in the practice of
bait and switchIn retail sales, a bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is...
. The customer will be told when ready to purchase that for one reason or another, they won't be eligible for the advertised offer, and will be coerced into one that is higher priced (see
Hard sellIn advertising, a hard sell is an advertisement or campaign that uses a more direct, forceful, and overt sales message. This approach works in opposition to a soft sell....
). Reasons they be told may include his/her age,
credit ratingA credit rating estimates the credit worthiness of an individual, corporation, or even a country. It is an evaluation made by credit bureaus of a borrower’s overall credit history. A credit rating is also known as an evaluation of a potential borrower's ability to repay debt, prepared by a credit...
, size or location of residence, the type of vehicle s/he owns, the amount of prior business s/he has done with that company, or the variety of the item s/he wishes to purchase. Often when this occurs, the limitations that render him/her ineligible will apply to an overwhelming majority of consumers.
Very frequently, consumers, eager to obtain a product or service they have the dire need or wish for, or else that they have been coerced into obtaining, will sign their names on a binding contract. The consumer may be determined to be liable to the terms of the contract, stated only by the fine print, and an exit from these terms may be quite costly or impossible for the consumer.
Some examples of how consumers are deceived are as follows:
- A credit card
A credit card is part of a system of payments named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. It is a card entitling its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
, advertised with a 0% rate in large print, will offer this only for an introductory period of a few months. After that, the rate will be something like 19.95%, and may increase even more due to universal defaultUniversal default is the term for a practice in the financial services industry for a particular lender to change the terms of a loan from the normal terms to the default terms Universal default is the term for a practice in the financial services industry for a particular lender to change the...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/eight/.
- A cell phone contract may require the subscriber to pay various fees that are originally unnoticed. The subscriber is bound to the contract for a specified period of time, and must pay a large amount to be freed. Additionally, the contract will automatically renew if not cancelled within a certain time frame upon its expiration, thereby further lengthening these terms.
- A trip
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
, frequently a cruise, will advertise in large print that the price is something attractive, such as $399 for seven days. In smaller print below, the words "per person, double occupancy" (often abbreviated) will be present. This alone will double the advertised offer, since even the solo traveler would be required to rent the room for the price of two. The words "as low as" may also be hidden, for this low price applies only to the least attractive of offers. Other fees that will be mandatory for all or most, such as taxes, transportation to the cruise terminal, and activities on and off the ship, will be extra.
- A car dealership
A car dealership or vehicle local distribution is a business that sells new cars and/or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. It employs automobile salespeople to do the selling...
may advertise a car for sale at far below its market valueMarket value is the price at which an asset would trade in a competitive Walrasian auction setting. Market value is often used interchangeably with open market value, fair value or fair market value, although these terms have distinct definitions in different standards, and may differ in some...
in large print. Above the "final price" in the largest numbers of all, the real price will be listed at the top in small print. Below that will be several deductions, many of which most customers can possibly obtain, such as military membership, or a trade-in. Many of these offers also apply only to a particular model number, and exclude the remainder of the dealer's inventory.
- Auto repair shops frequently advertise either with coupon
In marketing a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions...
s or large signs outside their businesses for common maintenance and repair services, such as oil changes, tune-ups, and tires. These ads fail to mention factors that may raise that price, such as fees and add-ons for various services, mechanics telling customers more costly repairs are necessary or else the vehicle may be further damaged, or the price being for each individual part (such as a wheel), where the vehicle has several of that part all needing the service, and thereby multiplying the cost by that number. Many ads will also state in fine print "most cars," but in reality, most cars, including that of the customer seeking the service, will be excluded.
- Warranties
To avoid confusion, it should be noted that the word warranty has a variety of meanings both in ordinary parlance and at law. The original meaning of the verb warranty was "to promise or covenant something to be true"....
: The warranties for many products, such as automobiles, are offered or sold with the promise that they will cover a large number of scenarios, should they occur, and often routine maintenance. But they are accompanied by fine print to exclude virtually all repairs that will likely be needed. The coverage for some routine maintenance may also be a lure in which the service center will intentionally damage the vehicle, unknown to its owner, thereby forcing the owner to return for additional costly repairs in the future.
- Insurance
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed and known...
policies: Particularly healthHealth insurance is insurance that pays for medical expenses. It is sometimes used more broadly to include insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial care needs. It may be provided through a government-sponsored social insurance program, or from private insurance companies...
and life insuranceLife insurance or life assurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured individual's or individuals' death or other event, such as terminal illness or critical illness. In return, the policy owner...
will exclude a good deal of scenarios in which one would normally file a claim. For example, life insurance will not normally cover suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
s, and homeowners' insurance will not normally cover arsonArson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation...
.
- Rebate
Rebate can refer to:* Rebate or rabbet, a woodworking term for a groove* Film rebate, the term for the border around photographic film- Money :* Rebate , a type of sales promotion used in marketing...
s: Many products are advertised with a price printed in large numbers. However, a higher price is printed above in much smaller numbers, and the large-print price is only given after a rebateRebate can refer to:* Rebate or rabbet, a woodworking term for a groove* Film rebate, the term for the border around photographic film- Money :* Rebate , a type of sales promotion used in marketing...
. Initially, the customer must first pay the high price. In order for the rebate to be redeemed, the customer must then follow a set of instructions. In some cases, meeting all the requirements necessary in order to obtain the rebate may be difficult, and as a result, many rebates are denied.
- Infomercial
Infomercials are long-format television commercials, typically five minutes or longer. Infomercials are also known as paid programming . This phenomenon started in the United States where infomercials were typically shown overnight --outside of peak hours...
products: These come in all shapes and sizes, from wealth packages to cooking utensils. Often, however, these companies either load their sales with tons of fine print, or simply do not abide by their promises (the latter is technically legal, but many are not worried because the amount they make from ripping off people usually more than makes up for the amount of fines they pay to the government).
Use of fine print in lower-priced items
More often than not, large print paired with fine print is used to promote big-ticket purchases, making the consumer believe at first impression they will be paying far less than they actually do. But various forms of this technique are used in the promotion of low-priced goods. In many cases, they do not deceive the consumer in the price that they are paying, but in some other attribute about the product, such as its nutritional content.
Some examples are:
- An item may say on its cover REDUCED FAT. But in reality, it has less fat than the standard version, but it still has more than half that amount, along with many or more of the calories, often due to added sugar. This makes the unsuspecting consumer believe that s/he can eat seemingly unlimited amounts of this dietary product with no harmful consequences.
- Buzz words: Some key words found on covers may attract the consumer to purchasing the product for a higher price than the standard or a generic version. But there are no proven benefits to the premium edition. Some buzz words may include lite (with only a lighter color in appearance), antibacterial (with no more protection against germs).
- SALE: A store may place tags on items, or signage outside the location stating something like 75% OFF. But the price that the 75% discount is based on is hidden from the consumer or made very difficult to see, and in reality, the discount is very little off the market rate. In some cases, the final price may be higher than a comparable item can be found elsewhere.
Fine print on TV and other video media
A common practice has been to use fine print in
advertising on televisionA television advertisement or television commercial is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organisation that conveys a message. Advertisement revenue provides a significant portion of the funding for most privately owned television networks...
. In such a case, the fine print is displayed at the bottom of the screen in a manner where it is not noticeable to many viewers, or is displayed for such a short time no one has the time to read the entire paragraph without an artificial means of stopping the commercial i.e. record it or freeze frame it, such as with a
Digital Video RecorderA digital video recorder or personal video recorder is a device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other memory medium within a device. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes, portable media players and software for personal computers which enables video capture and...
(DVR), in order to read it. The attention is drawn away from this little section by the more eye-catching or large print description of the offer, which alone is untrue.
Fine print is often illegible, e.g., when a TV picture is noisy, low-resolution, or the viewer's sight is impaired. Banking offers have been displayed on video billoards by highways that are unreadble by passing drivers
Verbal fine print
Some
TVA television advertisement or television commercial is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organisation that conveys a message. Advertisement revenue provides a significant portion of the funding for most privately owned television networks...
and
radio commercialA radio commercial is a form of advertising via the medium of radio. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials....
s are concluded with "fast talking", which is barely audible or comprehensible to most. While it is this very message that states all necessary
disclaimerA disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally-recognized relationship...
s and exceptions to the advertisement, it is stated too fast for the viewer or listener to comprehend. This is often coupled with pleasant background music and positive images, which in turn neutralize the effect of the fast talking.
Fighting fine print
With proper education, consumers can be warned to read the fine print and to see the red flags on an offer that is too good to be true, even and especially when it is the widespread industry practice.
Many consumer advocates are active in lobbying for laws to limit the rights of an advertiser to use fine print to hide the truth, and to expand rights to consumers who fall victim to fine print. Due to free speech that is granted to advertisers, passing such laws in the United States has proven to be difficult. Many such laws that have successfully been passed have ultimately been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
See also Corporate personhood debate.
Credit Cards
Credit card issuers are among the largest of those who have won the fine print battle against the consumer. Consumer advocates have widely criticized the credit card industry for its increasing ruthlessness in its practices, which allow the banks seemingly unlimited rights to charge whatever fees they wish, to rewrite the terms and conditions faced by the consumer at will, and to not be challenged by the consumer in their practices. The consumer who initially obtained the card was inevitably drawn by the large print, which was accompanied by pages of fine print few are likely to read in full or to understand. During the 1990s, two laws against such practices were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, and these rulings are said to have opened the floodgates for even more ruthless practices.
Rebates
Several states have considered laws that would require retailers to provide advertised rebates to customers at the time of the purchase with no strings attached. These laws have been widely opposed by corporations, and are yet to have passed in any states.
Banking
Advertising by conventional banks is relatively highly regulated, requiring disclosures that generally are made, but appear in small print. In some cases, the minimum size of any small print is regulated, such as credit card advertising/application Schumer's_box disclosure requirements. One bank offered non-FDIC-insured CDs yielding 10% in letters almost 3" high, while the small print 1/16" high disclosed the lack of insurance.
External links