Let me give you a for instance. Lets say that Ford advertises a new car that they said will get 50 miles per gallon of gas on the highway. With the price of gas being what it is, you like the sound of that and buy one. Well after you get home and drive it a few days, it turns out that you are only getting 20 mpg. Then after a while it turns out that everyone who bought one is only getting 20 mpg. What would you do? Just say, oh well "Let the buyer beware". Yeah right, I bet that's how you would handle it. You would be mad as hell and rightfully so. Companies do not have the right to make false claims in their advertising. Most insulate themselves from legal action with disclaimers in small print, joke ads or by wording their ads in a vague nonspecific way. But when you make a serious, straightfoward, verifiable, claim in an ad you better by God be sure of it.
I'm sorry Todd, but again, apples and oranges. For one thing, MPG is regulated by EPA,
and you would have to sue EPA b/c they are the ones that verify the figures (unless Ford gave the
EPA a fraudulent tester vehicle).
This is the wild west of marketing - it's hunting products. Deer Cane includes a warning not to get between the deer and it's junky fix. If you look at food plot products, you would think that it is Elesyian fields of green with Boone and Crockett's grazing everywhere.
This is also not a big ticket item (I know it's expensive, but I'm assuming that most people need
the jacket anyway, so it added $50 to their purchase). It is also not some claim that causes
health risks or long term damage (like in your car example). Finally, there is science that says
carbon removes odor. It's not black and white.
Your going to be able to find a lawyer to sue for anything imaginable if you have the $$$, but that doesn't
mean it is the best or even "right" way to resolve problems.
I think my favorite way to handle "snake oil" was in the movie the "Outlaw Josie Wales (IMO one of
the best Westerns ever), where Josie asks the salesman, "That stuff's good for everything is it?"
The salesman says oh yes. Then Josie spits a big wad of tobacco chew on the guy's white jacket and asks:
"How's it work for stains?"
