Section 124.02. Definitions.

 

(1)  "Advertisement" is any oral, written or graphic statement or representation made in connection with the solicitation of business in any manner by a seller and includes, without limitation because of enumeration, statements and representations contained on any label, tag or sign attached to, printed on, or accompanying consumer property, or printed in a catalog or any other sales literature or brochure.

(2)  "Consumer property or services" means any personal property or services sold primarily for personal, family, or household use and not for resale or for use or consumption in a trade or business.

(3)  "Date" as applied to "date on which a price comparison is stated in the advertisement" in newspapers, catalogs, or other printed publications means either the date of publication or distribution or the date on which the completed advertising copy is submitted to the printer for final printing and publication, provided such submission date does not exceed 30 days from date of actual publication or distribution.

(4)  "Seller" means a person engaged in the sale of consumer property or services and includes corporations, partnerships, associations and any other form of business organization or entity. The term does not include banks, savings and loan associations, insurance companies and public utilities to the extent exempt from department regulation under s. 93.01 (1m) , Stats.

(5)  "Price comparison" means the direct comparison, expressed wholly or in part in dollars, cents, fractions or percentages, in any advertisement, of a seller's current price for consumer property or services with any other price or statement of value for such property or services, whether or not such prices are actually stated in the advertisement. The term includes, but is not limited to, such comparisons as "50% off," "save 1 ⁄ 3 ," "Half price sale," "Was $20, now half price," "$10 value, now $8," or "Was $7, now $6."

(6)  The terms "sell" or "sale" include a lease.

History: Cr. Register, July, 1973, No. 211 , effective January 1, 1974, except that for advertisements in catalogs it shall take effect July 1, 1974; am. (5), Register, January, 1978, No. 265 , eff. 2-1-78; CR 08-075 : am. (4) Register April 2009 No. 640 , eff. 5-1-09.