The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2021
Sony México sold a 30%-off PS5 pre-sale — then cancelled the orders it confirmed
Sept 2021: PROFECO fined Sony de México 4.8M pesos and filed a class action — the PS5 pre-sale discount was honoured by confirming orders, then cancelling them.
Sony de México · 2021-09
What happened
On 1 November 2020, Sony de México opened a PlayStation 5 pre-sale advertising discounts of up to 30%. Customers bought; Sony confirmed the purchases. Then the company unilaterally cancelled most of the orders. Reporting said the discount had applied only to the first units — a condition buried in fine print — while PROFECO's case was simpler: an advertised offer is an offer, and confirmed orders must be honoured.
Sony showed no willingness to conciliate after a group complaint, so PROFECO went further than its usual procedure: alongside the fine announced in September 2021 — 4.8 million pesos — the agency filed a collective action lawsuit demanding that the advertised offer be respected and the purchased consoles delivered.
The case was part of a September 2021 sweep in which PROFECO named four major brands for misleading advertising in the president's morning press conference. For Sony, the lesson was procedural as much as financial: refusing conciliation turned a fine into a class action.
Why it happened
- The discount sold the pre-sale; cancelling confirmed orders unmade the claim the ad had made.
- A condition that limits the offer must be in the offer — the fine print cannot undo the headline.
- Refusing to conciliate escalated a penalty into a collective action: the agency's next step was the courts.
The lesson
An advertised offer binds once the customer accepts it: confirming orders and cancelling them afterwards is misleading advertising, and refusing conciliation turns the fine into a lawsuit.
Aftermath
PROFECO's collective action sought delivery of the consoles at the advertised terms. The case is cited in Mexico for the rule that advertised offers must be honoured as published.
Sources
- PROFECO — Emite Profeco medidas preventivas para Viva Aerobus, BP y Vips por publicidad engañosa
- La Red Noticias — Profeco multa a Vips, Viva Aerobus, BP y Sony con 4.8 mdp por publicidad engañosa
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