FAS RUSSIA INITIATED A CASE ON VIOLATION OF THE LAW ON ADVERTISING AGAINST ALFA-BANK
The bank's advertising did not include essential conditions for the provision of one of its products and misled consumers
FAS Russia received an appeal from a citizen with claims to advertising of a free credit card of Alfa-Bank JSC. In the advertisement, information about free credit card service was voiced and indicated in large font, and the footnote said: "Charge for service in the 1st year is 0 ₽, starting from the 2nd year – 990 ₽". At the same time, the format and time of the demonstration of explanatory footnotes did not allow for full comprehension of the text.
Besides, the advertisement stated that "Alfa-Bank is the best mobile bank", followed by an explanatory footnote "according to Markswebb". However, it was presented in a difficult-to-perceive way for a short time and could not be considered as an objective criterion for comparing the advertised Alfa-Bank product with the products of other banks.
In addition, the commercial talked about the instant delivery of the card to any point in Russia. However, the list of delivery cities on the bank's website does not contain a complete list of Russian cities. Thus, the advertisement reported information that was not true.
FAS Russia initiated a case against Alfa-Bank JSC on the grounds of violation of Paragraph 1 of Part 2, Paragraph 5 of Part 3, Part 7 of Article 5 of the Law on Advertising. If the organization is found guilty, it will face a fine.