Consumer Groups ‘Honor’ Ads They Claim Are Misleading
From Associated Press
WASHINGTON —
From Erector Sets to cars, consumer groups complained Wednesday about advertisements they said are misleading, but the companies fought back, defending the ads as accurate.
“It makes me wonder who put them up to this,” said Fred Hammond of Volvo, which was criticized for an ad comparing the handling of its station wagon with that of a BMW sedan.
The Consumer Federation of America singled out a Volvo ad suggesting the car is faster and handles better than the BMW. The group contended the cars were not tested equally.
On the toy front, Meccano Inc. drew criticism for an ad showing a fire truck built using its Erector Set. The Public Interest Research Group complained that it took more than 13 hours to build the truck.
