Coway, Chungho Nais penalized for misleading ads
By Yoon Ja-young
Coway CEO Lee Hae-sun
The country's major air purifier manufacturers including Coway and Chungho Nais have been fined 1.5 billion won in total for misleading advertising.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced Tuesday it levied 1.5 billion won in penalties on six air purifier manufacturers for misleading consumers regarding the function of their products through advertising.
The country's air purifier market has been growing strongly during the past few years amid increasing concerns about fine dust. According to the 2016 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, Korea ranked 173rd among 180 countries surveyed about air quality. The air purifier market is expected to reach 2 trillion won this year, doubling from 2016.
However, it turned out that air purifier companies exaggerated their products' functions in ads.
Coway, for instance, advertised between 2009 and 2016 that its air purifier filters 99.9 percent of harmful viruses in the air. It added the function was proven by five research institutes, including those in Japan and China.
Winix also promoted in a home shopping catalog and on its website that its product kills 99.9 percent of colon bacteria, pseudomonas aeruginosa, staphylococcus aureus and salmonella.
“We provide healthy air, getting rid of not only dust but also bacteria, fungus, diverse harmful bacteria and smell,” it noted in the ad.
Chungho Nais CEO Lee Seok-ho
Chungho Nais also said, “With the first purifying technology in the world which gets rid of 99.9 percent of harmful virus, we transform the air into top quality good for breathing.”
Samsung Electronics also advertised that numerous institutes have proven that its purifier stops viruses and allergens.
However, the FTC pointed out these functions were proven in extremely restricted experiments that are far from conditions of everyday life. They used bacteria bred in flasks and the experiment was done in quarantined laboratories. However, air purifier manufacturers misled consumers to believe they will function equally well in daily life by omitting any “disclosure” of experimental conditions.
Coway was fined 500 million won, Samsung Electronics 488 million won, Winix 449 million won and Chungho Nais 120 million won. The FTC only warned LG Electronics instead of levying a penalty as it ran misleading ads only on its website.
“Though the ads are based on experiments, they should not mislead consumers. Businesses should disclose restrictions to prevent consumers' misunderstanding,” said In Min-ho, a director in charge of consumer information at the FTC.
“With diverse research papers witnessing that air purifiers have reduced harmful materials by only between 25 and 60 percent in daily life conditions, the manufacturers must have been aware what 99.9 percent would mean. However, none of them raised the issue and they de facto formed a cartel, misleading consumers regarding function of all air purifiers,” he added.