Massage chair, I thought it was made of high-quality wood… Fair Trade Commission withdraws Ceragem’s unfair advertising

input2024.04.24 14:18
correction2024.04.24 14:28

Fair Trade Commission imposes a fine of 100 million won on Ceragem
“Advertising like wood for massage chairs”
In reality, joining plywood and imported wood

Ceragem was fined for advertising as if it was made of high-quality wood even though it used plywood in the wood section of its massage chair products.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 24th that it had decided to impose a fine of 128 million won on Ceragem along with a correction order. Ceragem was caught selling the ‘Ceragem Pouse Decore’ massage chair while advertising the wood part of the product as if it were high-quality wood.

In fact, the material was manufactured by joining walnut veneer from California, USA, and plywood. However, Ceragem used phrases such as ‘depth of wood’, ‘value of wood’, and ‘use of premium wood black walnut’, which could mislead consumers.

Some advertisements included the phrase ‘layered black walnut material using natural wood’, but used a term that is not often used for massage chairs, etc. Because of this, it was difficult for consumers to know that the material in question was plywood.

Even on the day that the Fair Trade Commission announced that it would impose a fine, the problematic advertising video was still displayed on Ceragem’s website. At the bottom of the product’s advertisement video, the phrase ‘The wood frame of the product in the advertisement is a wood veneer using thinly peeled wood’ is also continuously displayed.

Ceragem, a latecomer to the massage chair market, has emphasized product materials and design as one of its differentiated competitiveness.

Kwon Sun-guk, director of the Fair Trade Commission’s Daejeon office, said in a briefing this morning, “We judged that advertising as if wood was used in Decor products was likely to interfere with consumers’ rational purchasing choices and thus undermine the fair trade order.” “It is significant in that unfair advertising practices were detected and sanctioned in a market with large information asymmetry in a situation where consumer interest is increasing,” he said.

Kim Dae-young, Hankyung.com reporter [email protected]