Court Opinion

ID: 9583334
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:37:48.931834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:57.515356
License: Public Domain

EICH, J.
(dissenting). The state’s complaint charges that American’s radio advertisement, quoted in its entirety in the majority opinion, was "untrue, deceptive or misleading” and that it was part of a "plan or scheme ... not to sell... the ... merchandise *369... as advertised.” Secs. 100.18(1) and (9)(a), Stats. The majority agrees that the ad is susceptible to both charges.
If American’s ad is untrue, deceptive or misleading, so are most advertisements and merchandising slogans of the 1980’s. In my view, the ad does no more than state that Maytag and Speed Queen washers and dryers are "the best” and "the finest,” and that one can buy a Speed Queen washer and dryer set at American for $499. I do not believe it can be reasonably read to represent that the $499 Speed Queen is the best or finest of all washers or dryers everywhere in the world — or even the best of the Speed Queen line. Rather, I agree with the trial court that:
The reasonable reading of the ad is that the sale on Maytag and Speed Queen washers and dryers generally, even includes one available set as low as $499.00. Not even the most suspicious competitor or least sophisticated consumer could conclude that the defendant was offering the "best”, "finest” or most functional Speed Queen set for $499.00. In context, $499.00 was clearly the bottom of the sale, not the top; it was the lowest one could pay for purportedly one of the two "best” and "finest” lines of washers and dryers. Therefore, "[w]hy pay more at Sears.”
A "hype,” yes; but it is no more than "puffery”; and puffing one’s wares has never been thought to be a punishable deceptive practice. Indeed, were the state’s view to prevail, I assume Chicagoans would no longer be able to read the "World’s Greatest Newspaper” or Milwaukeeans drink that city’s "Finest Beer.” The possibilities are endless. But the law has long recognized that puffery is not deception, and it is not a violation of the statute.
*370Nor do I share the majority’s belief that the state has adequately stated a claim that use of the terms "clearance sale” and "closeout January white sale” is misleading and untrue simply because American ordered merchandise specifically for the sale. Whether some or all of the sale merchandise was already on hand, or whether some or all was ordered for the sale, does not, in my opinion, make the ad’s use of the words "clearance” or "closeout” a lie.
Finally, the majority agrees with the state that the ad is deceptive because it is part of a "scheme ... not to sell the merchandise as advertised” — a "bait and switch” scheme designed to lure the customer into the store with the promise of a $499 set, and, once there, to pressure him or her into buying a more expensive model. The majority offers two basic reasons for its conclusion: (1) American had only twenty of the $499 sets and many more of the more expensive models on hand; and (2) under the store’s sales commission plan, salespeople would not earn commissions on the $499 sets.
Both parties referred the trial court to the FTC guidelines as instructive on the "bait-and-switch” issue. The state and the majority, however, now assert that the guidelines are not quite as instructive as the court found them to be. I agree with the trial court that, giving the state’s complaint the benefit of all reasonable inferences, only one of the six FTC elements is implicated: "Use of a sales plan or method of compensation for salespersons] or penalizing salespersons], designed to prevent or discourage them from selling the advertised product.” The complaint does not allege violation of the other guidelines — that American refused to sell or take orders for the *371advertised sets, that the sets were unavailable, or that American employees "disparaged” them to customers.
I simply do not believe that American’s sales commission structure, by itself, must necessarily cause every advertised sale of an item at or below cost to be a deceptive practice in violation of secs. 100.18(1) and (9)(a), Stats. The additional fact that fewer $499 sets were available than more expensive models does not persuade me otherwise, nor do the other claims offered by the state "on information and belief’ in its complaint.1
Again, I agree with the trial court that most contemporary marketing techniques will offend someone’s sensibilities, and that American’s are no exception. Indeed, one would think that its scream-and-shout advertising style would keep as many people away from the store as it attracts in. But, as Judge Jones noted, that fact should not be sufficient to subject it to a lawsuit for deception.
*372I would affirm the trial court’s dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a claim.

 When conclusions and matters stated only on information and belief are cleansed from the state’s complaint, only the following factual allegations remain: (1) American ordered twenty $499 sets and 133 higher-priced sets for the sale; (2) some of the higher-priced sets actually cost American $2 less than the $499 sets; and (3) the $499 sets are plainer in appearance and lack many features found on the higher-priced models.
The complaint also charges "on information and belief’ that American would lose money on sales of the $499 sets and thus its salespeople would earn no commissions on such sales; that American sold more higher-priced sets than $499 sets; that the sales staff was trained to show higher-priced sets to customers; and that credit cards were accepted only for purchases of the higher-priced sets. Even giving credence to these "information and belief’ allegations, I continue to believe that the trial court correctly decided the case.