Consumer David Bristow lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against a TV advert for a Bosch dishwasher in which it was claimed that "a dishwasher uses up to five times less water and no extra electricity compared to washing by hand".
He said the claims were based on false information and inaccurate studies.
Bosch denied the claims were misleading, saying they were substantiated by a study conducted by Bonn University in Germany in 2008, involving 62 respondents "across the South African racial spectrum".
The results found that the average water consumption when washing dishes by hand on a 12-place setting was 63.3 litres whereas the corresponding average consumption for an automatic dishwasher was 13.3 litres.
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| 'The more the product costs per kilo, the more that paper costs' |
The ASA ruled that because there was no evidence that the Bonn study was relevant to the South African market, the water saving claim was not substantiated and must not be used again.
Bosch has made claims based on a Bonn University survey before. Claims have ranged from washing by hand being less hygienic than a dishwasher to dishwashers using half the energy of hand washing.
The ASA directorate said that while it accepted Bosch had materially changed its claims and commissioned a study in an attempt to verify these, it was worrying to note a pattern of making unsubstantiated claims.
"The directorate therefore cautions the respondent to ensure that similar advertising does not fall foul of the ASA regulations, as this ruling may be taken into consideration for any further breaches."
Here's a novel idea - how about commissioning a dishwashing survey in South Africa, using real South Africans, rather than Europeans who represent our "racial spectrum"?
Packaging rip-off
Consumers across the country continue to be charged for the packaging of the foodstuffs they're buying, despite this being against the law.
Dina Ramatshimbila, manager of inspections at the Gauteng office of the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications' (NRCS) legal metrology department, confirmed goods have to be sold by nett quantity.
"In other words, the weight of the packaging material should be excluded," she said.
And there's no excuse for retailers not knowing about this - it's very simple to "tare off" the packaging weight before adding the food to be weighed. Even my little kitchen scale can do this with one press of a button.
Ramatshimbila responded brilliantly to a complaint.
Mark Abbotts told me that when his wife bought slices of roast beef at the Spar in Stoneridge Mall, Edenvale, she saw that the assistant weighed the meat and its wrapping together. Because the meat cost R100 a kg, the paper added 60 cents to the cost.
"It's not much, admittedly, but in the course of a day, this practice must add up to a tidy sum," Abbotts said. "The more the product costs per kilo, the more that paper costs. When we queried this with the store supervisor, as no manager was available, we were told that because they had to pay for the paper, they had to recover the cost."
I forwarded Abbotts's complaint to Ramatshimbila on a recent Friday and by the following Tuesday her inspectors had visited the store, done an intervention and compiled a report.
"NRCS Legal Metrology witnessed four transactions in the takeaway area of this store where the taring of packaging material was not done as required in terms of the Trade Metrology Act," Ramatshimbila said. "When confronted, the employees operating the measuring equipment said they were not aware of the requirements and this was confirmed by the store manager."
The inspectors weighed packs of pre-packed meat in the butchery and found significant overcharging on beef mince, boerewors and pork rib, because of the packaging not having been excluded.
Non-complying pre-packed meat products were immediately prohibited from being sold," Ramatshimbila said.
Staff took immediate corrective action, she said, and the goods now comply.
To report suspected infringements of the Trade Metrology Act, contact your NRCS and ask for the Legal Metrology unit: Cape Town 021 526 3428; Port Elizabeth 041 398 6900; Bloemfontein:051 447 4408; Durban 031 533 6700; Pretoria: 012 428 6696
- This article was originally published on page 6 of Daily News on November 09, 2009
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