Ripley's 'Días R' ads promised 'thousands of products' — a court ruled them misleading

Ripley, one of Chile's biggest department store chains, built its periodic 'Días R' sales on a simple headline: discounts on 'miles de productos' — thousands of products. The advertising named the participating brands in generic terms, and shoppers read the promise the way it was written: the sale applied across the category.

In December 2017 the Santiago Court of Appeals ruled the advertising 'induces error in a normal consumer, who, faced with that favorable commercial situation, believes the discount will apply to all products of that category — which was not the case.' The discounts in fact applied only to the specific brands named in the ad. The court also found that Comercial Eccsa, Ripley's parent, acted 'knowing or having to know' the strategy could mislead, given its track record in promotions.

The fine was small — 30 UTM, about 1.4 million Chilean pesos, roughly US$2,300 — but the ruling was the point: in Chilean consumer law, the headline of a sale ad is the offer, and the fine print cannot quietly narrow it. What 'thousands of products' promised, the shelf had to deliver.