ACCC institutes against Woolworths Ltd for alleged misleading advertising

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted proceedings against Woolworths Ltd in the Federal Court Sydney, alleging false, misleading and deceptive conduct in Woolworths' newspaper advertising.

The ACCC alleges that Woolworths' Beefing Up the Economy advertising campaign which appeared in a number of rural newspapers including the Land, the Tamworth Times and the Country Leader which were distributed in the north west and New England regions of New South Wales:

• misled consumers as to the place of origin of the beef sold in the Woolworths supermarkets located in Armidale, Gunnedah, Inverell, Moree, Muswellbrook, Narrabri, Scone and Tamworth;
• misled consumers that the cattle suppliers used by Woolworths were only located in the North West and New England regions of NSW; and
• misled consumers that all the cattle used by Woolworths were fed with grain supplied by the local grain industry.

The ACCC alleges that Woolworths Ltd breached section 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, which prohibits conduct by a corporation that is misleading or deceptive, or is likely to mislead or deceive, and section 53(eb) of the Act, which prohibits a corporation from making a false or misleading representation concerning the place of origin of goods.

The ACCC is seeking court orders including:

• declarations that Woolworths Ltd has breached the relevant provisions of the Act
• injunctions restraining Woolworths Ltd from advertising in the same way in the future
• orders requiring Woolworths Ltd to publish corrective advertisements in the publications in which the original advertisements appeared and to place corrective notices in each of the relevant supermarkets;

  and

• costs.

A directions hearing for this matter is listed for 7 December 2001 in the Federal Court, Sydney.