Section R. 14.208 - General and specific disclaimers; evasions of act or rulesRule 8.
(1) General disclaimers in advertising relating to product availability shall not constitute compliance with the disclosure provisions of the act or these rules where the disclaimers, when used, are relied upon by a participating dealer or store to evade the obligations imposed by the act or these rules. Examples of such "general disclaimers" include the following:(a) "Not all items available at all stores."(b) "Available at most stores."(c) "Available at participating stores."(2) Specific disclaimers in advertising relating to consumer item availability only in certain stores are in compliance with the disclosure requirements of the act and these rules. Examples of a specific disclaimer include the following:(a) "Available only at stores featuring delicatessen departments."(b) "Available at the following participating stores: (name and address of each)."(3) In determining whether a clearance or close out sale is used as a device to evade the act or these rules, the following criteria shall be considered:(a) Whether the advertiser regularly or repeatedly uses the terms "clearance sale" or "close out sale" in connection with advertising of consumer items.(b) Whether the advertiser has in fact made readily and conspicuously available for sale all of the consumer items offered as part of the clearance or close out sale.(c) Whether the clearance or close out sale is merely a temporary reduction in prices, and there is an increase in prices on the same consumer items after the sale.(d) Whether the advertiser has, prior to or during the sale, ordered or acquired all or part of the advertised consumer items, other than from existing inventory, for the purposes of the sale.(e) Whether the advertiser has reordered the consumer items which are the subject of the sale for the purposes of replacing the inventory of sold items so as to make them available for sale within 90 days of the advertised clearance or close out sale.(4) In order to avoid leading a consumer to believe, in connection with an advertisement disclosing numerical quantities where more than 1 store, outlet, or dealership is participating, that each store, outlet or dealership has in fact the numerical quantity listed for the consumer item, and in fact there is a variance in quantity among such store, outlets, or dealerships, the advertiser may do either of the following:(a) Have readily and conspicuously available in each store, outlet, or dealership a reasonable number of each consumer item subject to the sale advertising.(b) Provide to each store, outlet, or dealership a quantity of consumer items equal to the quantity disclosed for each item.Mich. Admin. Code R. 14.208