§ 20-164. Misleading advertisements prohibited.

(1)

It shall be an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any person to intentionally make, publish or disseminate, or cause to be made, published or disseminated, an assertion, representation or statement of fact which is untrue, misleading or which, by the exercise of ordinary care, should be known to be untrue or misleading regarding:

(a)

The disposition of real or personal property; or

(b)

The performance of services; or

(c)

The inducement of the public by an allegation to enter into any transaction relating to either of the above.

(2)

It shall be an unfair or deceptive trade practice, by means of exaggerated variations in the comparative size, location or position of letters, figures or other markings or characters on any price tag, sign, poster, notice, display or advertisement or other public representation of any nature whatsoever, to mislead or deceive the public, as to the true nature, price, quantity, brand or character of any goods, wares, merchandise, services, facilities or accommodations, or as to the nature of, or the reason, if any is offered, for the sale or offering for sale, so being made to the public.

(3)

Where the property or services so advertised are available for purchase by the general public, the word "wholesale" or any grouping of words designed to impart a similar meaning as the word "wholesale" shall not be used in the advertisement unless the following words are clearly and prominently displayed: "This offer is available to distributors or dealers only, not to the public."

(4)

It shall be an unfair or deceptive trade practice to advertise or otherwise represent to the public in any manner whatsoever:

(a)

A representation of brand, quality, quantity, trade name or other character of any property or service that is untrue or misleading.

(b)

A sale or an offer for sale of any property or service which is contingent upon the concurrent purchase of any other property or service, unless clearly spelled out in the advertising.

(5)

This section does not apply to any publisher of a newspaper, magazine or other publication, or the owner or operator of a radio or television station, or any other owner or operator of a media primarily devoted to advertising, who publishes, broadcasts or otherwise disseminates an advertisement in good faith without knowledge of its false, deceptive or misleading character.

(6)

Complete Price; Representations; Official Terms. It shall be a deceptive trade practice to advertise or otherwise represent to the public in any manner whatsoever:

(a)

A price or price reference of a commodity, service or other thing of value unless such price representation is the complete purchase price which shall be unconditioned and include all charges except taxes levied at the retail level. The prominence or emphasis of the complete price shall be primary to any other related price quotations such as a payment or trade provision.

(b)

A representation in any manner of brand, quality, quantity, trade name or other character of any property or service that is untrue or misleading.

(c)

Terms such as "public notice," "public sale," "ordered sold," etc., unless there is an official act by a governmental agency concerning the subject of application for such terms.

(7)

Misrepresentation of Price. Whenever any commodity or service is sold, or is offered, exposed or advertised for sale, by weight, measure or count, the price shall not be misrepresented, nor shall the price be represented in any manner calculated or tending to mislead or deceive an actual or prospective purchaser. Whenever an advertised, posted or labeled price per unit of weight, measure or count includes a fraction of a cent, all elements of the fraction shall be prominently displayed and the numeral or numerals expressing the fraction shall be immediately adjacent to and of the same general design and style as, and at least one-half the height and width of, the numeral representing the whole cents.

(8)

Scales for Checkweighing of Prepackaged Commodities Required. It shall be an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any person engaged in the business of selling prepackaged meat, poultry, edible fish or produce in package form for retail sale and weighed out of the presence of customers to refuse or neglect to provide each retail outlet where said products are sold with a readily accessible price computing scale for customer checkweighing usage or in its stead to refuse to reweigh any of the aforesaid commodities in the presence of a prospective customer, when so requested. Decimal pound conversion charts or tables shall be provided where markings on packages are designated in the decimal system, showing equivalents of the decimal pound (100 divisions) to the customary ounce divisions, reduced to quarter-ounce fractions thereof (64 divisions).

(9)

Private Courier Services.

(a)

It shall be an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any business to represent itself to the public as a tag agency or title agency when it acts merely as a courier service which collects a fee and remits the fee to a county motor vehicle agency to have the license, registration or title work completed.

(b)

Businesses which provide courier services but are not authorized to issue motor vehicle tags, titles and registrations shall display a disclaimer in full view of the public stating that they are not an authorized motor vehicle agency but merely act as a courier service.

(c)

Businesses acting merely as a courier service shall not use the words "tag agent," "tag agency" or "title agency" in their name. Businesses currently operating under a name using these words shall have a period of six (6) months from the effective date of this subsection (June 27, 1988) to delete these words from their names.

(Ord. No. 81-77, § 6, 8-11-81; Ord. No. 88-25, § 1, 6-14-88)