QUESTION
LAW 402 INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH ESSAY TOPICS
CORPORATIONS AND ETHICAL CONDUCT
The following are some suggestions for your Essay. If you would like to present on
another topic please ask your tutor.
TOPIC 1: CORPORATIONS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
What responsibility do corporations have to the environment? Choose a case study
of damage done by corporations to the Australian environment. Include in your
discussion issues of compensation, penalties and cleanup strategies. What in your
group’s opinion needs to be done legally to ensure this situation does not happen
again?
TOPIC 2: CORPORATIONS AND LABOUR
One CEO stated that export processing zones (low-wage labour in developing
countries) allow people in those countries to contribute to their economies and
make a living. Others describe this as “sweatshop” labour that violates human rights.
To what extent does either or both of these positions have merit? Provide examples
of corporations that have been accused of human rights abuses. What does your
group think can be done to limit these abuses?
TOPIC 3: CORPORATIONS AND CONSUMERS
What responsibility do corporations have to provide consumers with the risks
associated with their products? What are their responsibilities for testing products?
Is there a difference between what is legally required, and what is ethically required?
Discuss this in relation to Australian consumer law. Provide a case study and
evaluate whether the company has complied with the law or not.
TOPIC 4: CORPORATIONS AND THE CARBON TAX
What is a carbon Tax? What are the arguments for and against a Carbon Tax In your
group’s opinion, should Australia introduce this tax?
TOPIC 5: MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND ADVERTISING
Is it fair for those who own media (e.g., book publishers, newspapers, television
station owners, etc.) to be able to decide what is said? Is it fair for advertisers to
exert influence over how they are portrayed in the media? Using global examples,
comment on whether freedom of speech in the media still exists.
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TOPIC 6: THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF CEO’S
Michael Moore felt that corporations and their CEOs are “out of touch” with what
the majority want, because the majority of citizens are women and the working
poor. Do you agree with Michael Moore’s statement? Does it matter whether or not
CEOs know who the “majority” are and what they want?
TOPIC 7: HIGHER-EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
Michael Spence, the vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, in an article on the
Sydney Morning Herald of 11 February 2010 wrote that “The recent alarming
headlines again in India depicting Australia as a hotbed of racism and crime.
Overseas students are critical to Australia’s reputation, as well as providing our thirdlargest
source of overseas, or so-called “export”, income”. Do you agree with his
statement? Is it true that Australia a “hotbed of racism’? What do you think the
government and/or universities can do to improve the services that are provided to
overseas students? What are your perceptions about higher-education in Australia?
TOPIC 8: CHILDREN AND ADVERTISING
Do you think children are ‘fair game’ when it comes to advertising products? What
regulations exist to limit what is advertised to children ion Australia? What ethical
responsibilities do advertisers have when advertising to children? Using examples,
comment on companies’ ethical and legal responsibilities when advertising to
children. In your group’s opinion, are these regulations good enough?
TOPIC 9: CONSUMER CHOICE
Woolworth’s move to put the price of 5000 products online in a bid to prove that it is
lowering prices has been cautiously welcomed by consumer advocates. Is there a
need to call for greater transparency of its products online price display, given
Woolworth has 30,000 items? What are the legal implications regarding
supermarkets’ responsibilities for the prices under the Australian Consumer Law?
What can be done to ensure that they will not raise the prices of the rest of their
products while dropping the prices of those 5000?
TOPIC 10: CONSUMERS AND ADVERTISING
Under what circumstances should the ‘photoshopping’ of cosmetic advertising be
allowed? Discuss in relation to Australian Consumer Protection Laws and ethical
behaviour by corporations. Provide a case study to illustrate your findings.
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SOLUTION
As we see the consumer protection law in Australia is indeed a very comprehensive area of law. The consumers are well taken care of and the government ensures that the companies maintain very fair market standards and the consumers don’t feel cheated. In this regard various legislations were passed and include terms of contract between the consumer and the seller.
But the most significant development was done by the government after passing the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) which is in force since January 1st 2011. After the passing of the law whole of Australia has the binding effect regarding application of the law and it includes unfair terms of the contract, explains about the rights of the consumers, safety of the products, enforcement powers and penalties. It is a most comprehensively developed law which would include all the things associated with consumer and consumer development. The law is aimed at protection of consumers in every way and even includes penalty for misleading advertisements and unfair contract terms.
As we see the Australian consumer law was vastly directed by the Trade Practices Act, 1974 but after the coming into force of ACL the name of the Act has been changed to Consumer and Competition Act 2010. As this branch was developed by repealing some of the consumer related provisions and replacing the same with some stringent provisions in the schedule 2 of the CCA. Moreover to make the law more effective the legislation was made a central legislation having application in all over Australia repealing all other centre and state consumer related laws.
Australian Consumer Law (ACL):
It came into force since 1st January 2011 and it is aimed to bring the whole country under the single legislation. Basic objective was to minimize the duress of the consumers due to different laws in states. Key developments that has been brought by the ACL includes.
• Unfair terms in contract was included in the consumer law in the Chapter 2, part 2-3 with respect to standard form contracts.
• Under chapter 5 new enforcement mechanisms of the law and severe new penalties were also included.
• Under chapter 3 fair trading was made mandatory and with set of specifications check on the standard of the quality of the goods according to the consumer specification was also ensured.
• New consumer guarantees were also provided under the law which includes guarantees on quality and standard of the product.
• New regime for unsolicited sales agreements was also included in Chapter 3, Part 3-2, Division 2 of the ACL. It was aimed to regulate telemarketing and contracts formed through telephones in certain consumer contracts.
• Product safety was included in the ACL under Chapter 3, Part3-3 by which seeking advice regarding meeting standard requirements of the product was made mandatory for the businesses.
• Information standard was improved and provision relating to providing information about the product was made in the new ACL.
• Liability of the manufactures were increased and consumers were given right to sue the manufacturers or importers directly.[Robert Toth , Australian Consumer Law: 10 Key Changes for Australian Business]
Now by laying these principles it was ensured by the government that the rights of consumers are protected by maintaining each and every aspect of the product. Moreover we see that by the changes it is noticed that the legislators have tried to change the prospective of the business and stressed upon maintaining a fair trading regime. They have tried to ensure safety to the consumers and tried to promote a healthy competition and fair trading regime.
Photoshopping & Deceptive Conduct:
Now as we understand in today’s world shopping through the internet is a very common phenomenon. As the world moves ahead in technological developments the consumer is also benefitted through these steps and now has the option to shop sitting within the confines of his home.
Companies are also benefitted through these advancements and have found various avenues in electronic marketing strategies. Thus by various sorts of promotional technique and facilities extended to consumers the emarketing has become a very big platform of business. Thus regulation of this platform was necessary as rights and money of the actual consumers were also involved in these transactions.
As we see the common practice followed by companies in these types of business transactions is the practice of photoshopping where they display or promote the product in a photograph and according to the order by the consumers the products are delivered.
Naturally the area is very much prone to disputes as the photoshopping can be deceptive or misleading as according to the convenience of the advertiser or seller. As in today’s world advertising and e marketing are considered integral to the plans of any business to develop thus these photoshopping exercises could not be curbed but has to be regulated. Basic danger associated with photoshopping is the danger of fraud by deceptive conduct.
As we see the actual product is not seen by the customer thus what is displayed in the picture acts as an actual product for him thus alluring him to buy the same. After the product is brought if he finds the actual product is different from the pictorial product and below that standard then he is deceived by the deceptive conduct of the company and the aim of ACL to provide complete consumer satisfaction gets defeated thus in order to control these types of practices proportionate penalty was introduced in the ACL [See Part VI A of Competition and Consumer Act, 2010].
As per the legislation the companies posing and practicing deceptive conduct are charged with proportionate penalties. Under Section 236 of the Act the consumer has been given power to claim damages against the opposite party if the act of the opposite party has caused him injury or economic loss which has been done in contravention to Section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law. The part also details about the liability of the concurrent wrongdoer who acts in consonance with the main wrong doer.
The process of complaint is initiated by the consumer notifying the seller of his grievance and if the seller does not respond within 2 weeks than the consumer carries on with the complaint against the seller in ACCC.
The part specifically states that the concurrent wrong doer is only liable to the loss or damage that has been done by him and excludes the liability of the main wrong doer.
Moreover Australian consumer law also prohibits making false claims about the standard, quality, service and repairs of products and also prohibits any action relating to making false price claims. If the consumer is allured by these false and misleading conduct and faces economic loss based upon the misleading information by the business then severe penalties are imposed upon the companies.
Photoshopping as a practice is very prevalent in today’s world thus deceptive photoshopping has always come under the regulator’s lenses. Deceptive advertisements have always been penalized by the authorities and consumers were given benefit resulting in fair trade practices in the country.
Photoshopping in Cosmetic and other examples:
As we have seen in the area of cosmetic advertising which is most prone to fraud customers due to their high publicity on products the authorities have kept a clear eye upon the area so that the consumers have benefitted with quality products. Moreover the area is very important as any loss could result in injury as well as monetary loss to the consumer.
Extra care has to be taken while displaying ads on through the photoshopping process. Few of the things which should be taken care of while advertising these products should include:
• Actual Description of the product.
• Its side effects if any on skin quality.
• Effect of the product.
• Guarantees and warranties.
As the product relates t beauty business which has an impact upon the body of the person thus it must be noted that the companies should take extra care while photoshopping the same and should ensure that the actual description of the product is only available to the consumers and the effects of the products is not high as than the product.
As we have seen the regulators have always been strict to any of the deceptive conditions followed by the companies while photoshopping. In recent times many companies have been subjected to penalties under the law by the regulators thus ensuring fair competition and trading.
As we see in the case of Power Balance which was forced to return the money of the customers after being implicated by ACCC. The case was regarding the wrist bands which the company claimed improved balance, strength and flexibility of the people wearing it. However it was even admitted by the company itself that there was no scientific evidence satisfying the said claim. The ACCC directed the company to withdraw the product and refund the consumer money [January 2011, Power Balance forced to Refund Customers due to Misleading Advertisement].
As we see in the instant case the deciding authority has emphasized on authentic evidence to adduce the claim. Mostly scientific evidences are relied upon in these cases as they can actually justify the claim by showing practical results thus the burden of proof in these cases rests upon the organisation or the person making the claim about the product.
Also in the famous incident of google where the internet search giant was held liable for misleading and deceptive ads. The court held that not only google but internet search engines would be responsible for deceptive paid search results [April 2012,Google Liable for Misleading Ads].
As we have seen the authorities have taken a very strict approach regarding deceptive advertisements. As they have always tried to ensure the standards of the products are maintained as per the law and the consumer benefits from the legislation. Moreover having a strict approach in deceptive and misleading cases always ensures a healthy competition is maintained as well as fair trading standards are maintained.
Deceptive conduct has to be curbed as we see in the recent paper the researcher has tried to discuss the steps taken by the Australian authorities to curb the practice of deceptive photoshopping to consumers as the country has moved to technological advancements it is for the legislators to understand and amend the law within their ambits and as per the technology prevailing in the modern world. As we have seen the legislators have tried their level best to protect the rights of the consumers and make the legislation benefitting consumers. Photoshopping is an essential phenomenon in today’s world. The Australian law does not restrict photoshopping as per se but it only restricts deceptive photoshopping which tends to curb fair market practices and the step is taken to promote healthy competition in the market.
The approach of the authorities have disclosed that no nonsense strategy has to be followed by the companies while they photoshop any product. The practice has been very useful in cases it gives consumer advantages but the controversy also is involved in this as it also tends to be deceptive by overhyping about the product sometimes. Moreover the practice also adds to the customer base of the companies as they use it as a very effective tool for promotion and marketing.
Deceptive conduct regarding price were also practiced sometimes by the mobile phone operators and mainly these conducts are the part of disputes. As the conduct has to be explained by evidence it is most essential for the companies to form such mechanism as to satisfy consumer quarries. The strictness by the authorities would enforce these mechanisms and help the consumer to clear all the doubts regarding the product.
Legislation to curb these practices have been constantly developing so that consumer does not face any hardship.
References:
1. Robert Toth, Australian Consumer Law: 10 key Changes in Australian Business viewed on 2nd April,2012 < http://www.wisewouldmahony.com.au/index.php?id=314>
2. Competition and Consumer Act 2010, viewed on 2nd April 2012 <http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011C00003/Html/Volume_1#param416>
3. January 2011, Power Balance forced to Refund Customers due to Misleading Advertisement viewed on 2nd April 2012 < http://www.batangastoday.com/power-balance-forced-to-refund-customers-in-australia-due-to-misleading-advertisements/8194/>.
JE39
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