The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024
Afloat Nail School advertised '50% off' tuition against a regular price nobody ever paid
Afloat Nail School sold a '50% off' course against a ¥701,800 'regular tuition' it had never actually charged.
Designword Inc. · 2024-12-17
What happened
Designword, which operates the Afloat Nail School, advertised its 'Professional Nail Course' with the banner '今だけ授業料５０％割引！！' (50% off tuition now). On the course's fee page it showed a '通常授業料' (regular tuition) of ¥701,800 (tax incl.), a discount of ¥350,900, and a discounted tuition of ¥350,900.
The 'regular tuition' was not actually on offer: the school had no record of providing the course at that price over the relevant recent period. The ¥701,800 anchor was a fiction, so the '50% off' was a discount against a number nobody had ever been charged.
On 17 December 2024 the Consumer Affairs Agency issued a corrective order under Article 7(1) of the Premiums and Representations Act, finding a violation of Article 5(2) for presenting transaction terms as significantly more favourable to consumers than they really were. The order required Designword to publicise the violation, put recurrence-prevention measures in place, and stop the misrepresentation.
Why it happened
- A 'regular price' nobody ever paid manufactures the very discount it is meant to justify
- ¥701,800 against ¥350,900 makes the '50% off' look researched when it is invented
- Nail school tuition is a big-ticket decision where the fake baseline is the sales pitch
The lesson
A discount is only real if the regular price behind it is real. When the ¥701,800 anchor was never charged, the '50% off' was a number invented to make the course look like a bargain.
Aftermath
The corrective order required Designword to notify consumers that its tuition display had violated the Act, establish recurrence-prevention measures, and stop presenting a 'regular tuition' that had not actually been offered. The case is a 有利誤認 enforcement against a school using a fictitious baseline price to sell a discount.
Sources
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