Ohio Administrative Code › Title 109:4 - Consumer Protection › Chapter 109:4-3 - Deceptive Acts or Trade Practices in Connection with Consumer Transactions › Section 109:4-3-04 - Use of word "free" etc

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) It shall be a deceptive act or practice
			 in connection with a consumer transaction for a supplier to use the word "free"
			 or other words of similar import or meaning, except in conformity with this
			 rule. It is the express intent of this rule to prohibit the practice of
			 advertising or offering goods or services as "free" when in fact the cost of
			 the "free" offer is passed on to the consumer by raising the regular (base)
			 price of the goods or services that must be purchased in connection with the
			 "free" offer. In the absence of such a base price a "free" offer is in reality
			 a single price for the combination of goods or services offered, and the
			 fiction that any portion of the offer is "free" is inherently deceptive.
(B) For the purposes of this rule,
			 all references to the word "free" shall include within that term all other
			 words of similar import and meaning. Representative of the word or words to
			 which this rule is applicable would be the following: "Free;" "Buy 1, Get 1
			 Free;" "2 for 1 Sale;" "50% Off with Purchase of 2." Offers of "free" items of
			 goods or services which may be deceptive for failure to meet the provisions of
			 this rule may not be corrected by the substitution, for the word "free," of
			 such similar words and terms as "gift," "given without charge," "bonus," or
			 other words and terms which tend to convey to the consuming public the
			 impression that an item of goods or services is "free."
(C) When using the word "free" in a consumer
			 transaction, all the terms, conditions, and obligations upon which receipt and
			 retention of the "free" goods or services are contingent shall be set forth
			 clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer. Terms, conditions, and
			 obligations of the offer must be printed in a type size half as large as the
			 word "free," and all of the terms, conditions, and obligations should appear in
			 close proximity with the offer of "free" goods or services. Disclosure of the
			 terms of the offer set forth in a footnote of an advertisement to which
			 reference is made by an asterisk or other symbol placed next to the offer is
			 not regarded as making disclosure at the outset.
(D) In a consumer transaction in which goods
			 or services are offered as "free" upon the purchase of other goods or services
			 the supplier must insure:
(1) That the unit
			 regular price charged for the other goods or services is not increased, or if
			 there is no unit regular price, the unit price charged for the other goods or
			 services is continued for a reasonable period of time;
(2) That the regular quality of the other
			 goods or services is not reduced, or if there is no regular quality, the
			 quality level of the other goods and services is continued for a reasonable
			 period of time;
(3) That no other
			 conditions are attached to the offer except for the basic condition that the
			 other goods or services must be purchased in order for the consumer to be
			 entitled to the "free" goods or services.