The Consumer Affairs Agency has ruled that advertising claims such as ``No. 1 in satisfaction'' despite no objective substantiation violates the Act on Unjust Representations. A total of six companies, including major housing manufacturers, were ordered to take measures to prevent recurrence by February 29th.
The companies that received the measures orders
include ``Xcom Global,'' which is headquartered in Tokyo and provides the mobile router rental service ``Imoto's WiFi,'' as well as
major housing manufacturers with headquarters in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture. There are six companies in total, including Iida Group Holdings and its subsidiaries.
According to the Consumer Affairs Agency, each of the six companies
advertises
``No. 1 in overseas Wi-Fi rental customer satisfaction'' and ``
Iida Group's custom-built homes have No. 1 customer satisfaction in 3 categories'' on their websites.
This means that it was displayed as .
Regarding these so-called "No. 1 advertisements," when the Consumer Affairs Agency checked the contents of the questionnaires that the companies provided as basis, they
found that none of them asked respondents whether they had ever used the service. ,
▽The choices were unfair, giving the company first place, and
the survey was not conducted using an objective method.
The Consumer Affairs Agency has issued measures to six companies, ordering them to take steps to prevent recurrence by February 29, arguing that these claims amount to ``misrepresentation of superiority'' under the Act on Premiums and Representations.
XCOM Global said, ``We take this matter seriously and will work to prevent it from happening again.''
In addition, Iida Group Holdings has stated on each company's website, ``We will strive to prevent recurrence by further strengthening our advertising management system, including confirming the appropriateness of contractors involved in creating advertisements.''