By Alaa Abdelwanis
Agency refers 6 TV channels to public prosecutor in 6 cases on charges of misleading advertising, fraud on consumers. Major General Atef Yaacob, the Chairman of the Consumer Protection Agency, said that within the framework of the Agency’s plan to protect consumers against fraud in the markets and the fight against misleading advertising, such misleading and deceptive advertisements were monitored over 24 hours through the Agency’s media observatory, and legal action was taken against the violators.
He said that based on a complaint lodged with the Agency, a misleading advertisement was broadcast on the screens of six satellite channels, namely Time Comedy, Cairo Drama, Time Taxi, Time Cinema, Time Ekhtarna Lak and Time Action. The ad presents telephone numbers to the customers 01096574103 – 01096579562- 01156310079, as being the Moroccan international centre of spiritual treatment with therapist, Abul-Yazid El Idrissi el Maghrebi, and with the assistance of therapist, Yassin el Sahabi. They claim their ability to use witchcraft for treatment, to bring back the beloved and get the parental consent for a suitor. The channels posted the photo of the complainant, Haroun Abdel Aatti Attia Haroun, as Yassin el Sahabi which is deceptive and misleading to the consumers and the audience.
Yaacoub revealed that the channels referred to the prosecution had violated Article 6 of the Consumer Protection Act No. 67 of 2006 which committed the supplier and the advertiser to provide the consumers with correct information about the nature of the product and its specifications, to avoid what could lead to creating a wrong or misleading impression on the consumer who can be mixed up or misled whether in a positive or a negative way. The consumer should not be left with wrong information about the nature of the product which could create the wrong impression of any of its components, key elements or characteristics, or related to awards or certifications of quality, or source, weight, size, or method of manufacture or the production date or expiry dates or terms of use.
Yaacoub stressed that the Agency gives great importance to consumer protection against harmful practices particularly those that may be harmful to the health and safety by adopting a policy of ‘prevention better than cure’, through pursuing proactive measures to educate and warn consumers against some of the harmful products after verifying information in this regard in addition to counterfeit products that are confiscated before reaching consumers.
