TORONTO – An ad campaign for the low-cost Rogers Wireless brand chatr is at the heart of a court case which will face the Ontario Superior Court of Justice tomorrow.
In November 2010, a Competition Bureau investigation concluded that Rogers misled consumers through its advertisements for the chatr discount cell phone and text service. The complaint was brought forward by competitor Mobilicity (as we reported here).
The Competition Bureau brought legal proceedings against Rogers forward saying the company made misleading claims about dropped calls in an advertising campaign promoting chatr. The Bureau also concluded that the claims made were not based on adequate and proper tests.
Rogers disputes the Bureau’s findings.
In a Canada-wide advertising campaign, Rogers claimed that consumers subscribing to its Chatr brand would experience "fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers" and have "no worries about dropped calls", says the Competition Bureau press release reminding people of the case.
"We take misleading advertising very seriously," said Melanie Aitken, commissioner of competition. "Consumers deserve accurate information, so they can make purchasing decisions with confidence."
In the November 2010 application, the Commissioner has asked the Court to order Rogers to: stop the advertising campaign and refrain from engaging in similar campaigns for a 10-year period; pay restitution to affected customers; pay an administrative monetary penalty of $10 million; and issue a corrective notice to inform the general public about the nature and provisions of the order issued against them.
The ad campaign was ended shortly after the Bureau filed its application in November 2010.
