Sunlight's fine for advertising fraud with closure upheld

A jewelry chain of stores operating under the Sunlight brand will still have to pay a 200 thousand fine established by the Chelyabinsk Federal Antimonopoly Service for violating the federal law "On Advertising". The firm "Sunlight", which manages retail outlets, tried to challenge the punishment in the Moscow arbitration court. However, the sanction established by the antimonopoly authority remained in force.

Recall that intrusive ads about allegedly ceasing to operate retail outlets of the network were actively published in 2020 by various media. Advertising with information about large discounts on goods (up to 80%) in connection with the liquidation of jewelry counters was received by residents of many cities of the country.

The administrative process on violation of advertising legislation was initiated by employees of the FAS of the Russian Federation in October 2020. Since the Ural region distinguished itself by the largest number of complaints about consumer fraud by Sunlight, the Central Office of the Antimonopoly Department instructed its Chelyabinsk Department to deal with the case.

In March 2021, the advertisement was found to be unreliable.

The network received an order to stop distributing announcements about the impending closure. The company announced in June that the requirement would be fulfilled. But at the same time I decided to challenge the verdict of the UFAS in court.

The basis for proving that the retail chain is deceiving its consumers was the data received from the Sunlight landlords. The management of Chelyabinsk shopping centers, which housed jewelry salons, informed the FAS that agreements on the lease of space were concluded until 2022, and in some places until 2023. The administration of shopping complexes does not have any information that the tenant is going to terminate the contracts earlier.

Sources report that the hackneyed marketing technique used by Sunlight quickly became a meme among Internet users.

Despite the obvious reputational damage and deliberate deception of customers, the jewelry chain, apparently, does not plan to abandon it.

The next batch of intrusive advertising from Sunlight appeared at the end of 2021 on various Internet advertising platforms. As a result, the FAS imposed a new fine on the owners of the network, and the company "Sunlight" once again plans to appeal it through arbitration. After all, the amount of the fine is only 200 thousand rubles. And if they pay off, then the network representatives prefer not to notice the talk about the immorality of consumer deception and numerous violations of Clause 3, Part 3, Article 5 of the Federal Law "On Advertising".