"World's Lightest" is misleading advertising!

Does the slogan "World's Lightest" constitute misleading advertising if the suitcases advertised therewith are not actually the lightest in the world when compared to competing products of similar size? Yes, ruled the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt a. M.

At a trade fair, a company presented its travel suitcases and advertised them with the statement "World's Lightest".

A competitor did not accept this and sent a warning letter to the advertiser, demanding the submission of a cease-and-desist declaration. A test purchase revealed that the suitcases advertised as "World's Lightest" were not really the lightest of their kind – the exhibitor also did not dispute this. The competitor therefore saw in the disputed slogan a violation of competition law in the form of misleading advertising. Since the exhibitor wished to understand the statement "World's Lightest" merely as a "mission statement" without objective factual content, he did not comply with the request to submit a cease-and-desist declaration. Ultimately, the dispute ended up in court.

"World's Lightest" is misleading advertising

In its judgment (dated 14.02.2019, Az. 6 U 3/18), the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt a. M. established that the defendant advertised misleadingly with the slogan "World's Lightest" at the trade fair. The defendant did not dispute that the suitcases advertised in this way were not the lightest on the market. Rather, she argued that the slogan was merely a "mission statement" without concrete product reference. However, this did not convince the judges. They stated that the relevant public would understand the statement "World's Lightest" to mean that all the suitcases displayed there were respectively the lightest in their category on the market. The statement was a factually descriptive statement given prominent eye-catching placement on the exhibition stand, which, in light of the ubiquitous problem of weight restrictions for baggage in air traffic, had high significance.

In the view of the court, the notion that the statement was merely part of "mission statements" without concrete product reference was already ruled out because, apart from this statement, only one other statement ("light years ahead") was mentioned in the area of the exhibition stand. This statement ("light years ahead") in fact had a reinforcing effect with respect to the assessment of the statement "World's Lightest". The judges made clear that the relevant public understood the designation "World's Lightest" as a statement of fact. Given the objectively incorrect statement, this resulted in misleading advertising and thus a violation of competition law.

Conclusion

Anyone advertising with an objectively verifiable product characteristic should ensure that it also corresponds to reality. While, for example, suggestive purchasing appeals without verifiable factual content (such as "the most beautiful flowers") are unproblematic from a competition law perspective, advertising statements objectively understood by the relevant public must also live up to what they promise.