Charges Filed Against Blockbuster Over Videotape Rebate Offer : Consumers: Company allegedly failed to mention contingency in promotion involving ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and other films.

Blockbuster Video on Monday was charged with false and misleading advertising in connection with a popular rebate offer for “Beauty and the Beast” and 24 other video titles during December, 1992.

The suit, filed by the state attorney general’s office and the Monterey County district attorney’s office, alleges that the nation’s largest video retailer violated California law when it failed to state in its advertising that a $5 rebate on the video titles was contingent on buying other products, ranging from crackers and cookies to detergent and cosmetics.

Consumers discovered they had to buy additional merchandise to get the rebate only after they had purchased a video and read the rebate instructions that came with it, the suit said.

Wallace W. Knief, a spokesman for Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., which operates the stores, said the company hadn’t received a copy of the suit and doesn’t comment on litigation.

The attorney general’s office said at least 33,000 Californians who purchased the video titles may have been misled. The state is seeking monetary penalties against Blockbuster and restitution to consumers allegedly duped by the rebate offer.

“They have argued that it is not a violation,” said Herschel Elkins, senior assistant attorney general. “To us, it appears a clear violation.”

Elkins said Blockbuster advertised the rebate offer in newspaper inserts and on posters in its video stores. The promotions said a $5 rebate was available, but did not tell consumers how to get it.

The advertised price of “Beauty and the Beast,” among the best-selling video titles ever, was $8.95--after the $5 rebate and a $3 rental coupon. Consumers who purchased “Beauty and the Beast” found out after opening it that in order to get the rebate they had to purchase four boxes of Nabisco crackers and mail in the receipt for the crackers and the videocassette.

Consumers who purchased “Batman Returns” had to purchase All detergent to get a $5 rebate. Other titles in the promotion included “Hook,” “101 Dalmations” and a Cindy Crawford workout tape.

The companies that make the crackers, detergent and other products were not named in the suit.

The suit, filed in Monterey County Superior Court, said the advertised “after-rebate” price for the videos was misleading because consumers were required to spend more money to get the rebate.

The suit said that consumers were required to make the additional purchases in a very short time. The promotion started on Nov. 26, 1992, and receipts for the video and the additional merchandise had to be dated no later than Dec. 31, 1992, a condition stated only on the rebate instructions that came with the video.

“People who bought the video at the end of the sale would have to run out that day and buy crackers to get the rebate,” said Lydia Villarreal, deputy district attorney in Monterey County. “A lot of people probably just crumpled up the paper and threw it away.”