Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales, but also employed in other contexts.
Video Bait-and-switch
In retail sales
First, customers are "baited" by merchants advertising products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the advertised goods either are not available or are not as good as expected, or the customers are pressured by sales people to consider similar, but higher-priced, items ("switching").
Maps Bait-and-switch
Function
The intention of the bait-and-switch is to encourage purchases of substituted goods, making consumers satisfied with the available stock offered, as an alternative to a disappointment or inconvenience of acquiring no goods (or bait) at all, and reckoning on a seemingly partial recovery of sunk costs expended trying to obtain the bait. It suggests that the seller will not show the original product or service advertised but instead will demonstrate a more expensive product or a similar product with a higher margin.
Legality
In the United States, courts have held that the purveyor using a bait-and-switch operation may be subject to a lawsuit by customers for false advertising, and can be sued for trademark infringement by competing manufacturers, retailers, and others who profit from the sale of the product used as bait. However, no cause of action will exist if the purveyor is capable of actually selling the goods advertised, but aggressively pushes a competing product.
Likewise, advertising a sale while intending to stock a limited amount of, and thereby sell out, a loss-leading item advertised is legal in the United States. The purveyor can escape liability if they make clear in their advertisements that quantities of items for which a sale is offered are limited, or by offering a rain check on sold-out items.
In England and Wales, bait and switch is banned under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Breaking this law can result in a criminal prosecution, an unlimited fine, and two years in jail. In Canada, this tactic is illegal under the Competition Act.
In the EU, bait and switch practices are illegal as per the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005, which requires member states to pass legislation implementing the directive.
Non-retail use
- Bait-and-switch tactics are frequently used in airline and air travel advertising.
- Hotels widely use the form of bait-and-switch tactics known as 'resort fees'. They first attract customers by advertising the lower price (which appears on all promotional materials and rate comparison engines), and charge customers the mandatory "resort fee" when they arrive for check-in.
- Recruitment. Many employers and employment agencies systematically use bait and switch tactics. Advertising one position and after the candidate has submitted their CV or taken time off work to come to a face-to-face interview then subtly changing the nature of the position or offering a completely different position. Often there is no job at all and the "job advertisement" is simply a speculative trawl for CVs that may match HR requirements at some point in the future.
- Home service companies such as in the carpet cleaning, air conditioning, and security system industries often use bait-and-switch.
- Professional wrestling has long used bait-and-switch tactics, promoting wrestlers and matches that either fail or refuse to appear or appear much differently than expected. A disclaimer on promotional material, "Card Subject to Change," is often used to justify or excuse this.
- "Clickbait" refers to a form of Internet trolling in which web users are misled into clicking thumbnails, icons and buttons (e.g. "Download"), previews or text links, leading them to undesirable (and potentially malicious) webpages, videos, programs and other content.
Politics
In lawmaking, "caption bills" that propose minor changes in law with simplistic titles (the bait) are introduced to the legislature with the ultimate objective of substantially changing the wording (the switch) at a later date, in order to try to smooth the passage of a controversial or major amendment. This deceptive practice is often called "Gut and Amend".
Rule changes are also proposed (the bait) to meet legal requirements for public notice and mandated public hearings, then different rules are proposed at a final meeting (the switch), thus bypassing the objective of public notice and public discussion on the actual rules voted upon.
While these political bait-and-switch tactics are legal, the objective is to pass legislation while bypassing community review, weakening the ability of the public to impact legislation.
See also
References
External links
- Guides against "bait" advertising from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
- Google's bait and switch deception exposed at hearing, Forbes
- Competition Bureau Canada
Source of article : Wikipedia
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