§ 5-37-515 - False advertising generally.
5-37-515. False advertising generally.
(a) (1) It is the purpose and intent of this section to prohibit false, fraudulent, and misleading advertising and to prescribe a penalty for a person purchasing false, fraudulent, and misleading advertising in a newspaper, on radio or television, or otherwise causing false, fraudulent, and misleading advertising to be placed before the public.
(2) It is not the intention of this section and nothing in this section shall be construed to penalize or place responsibility upon any newspaper, radio station, television station, publisher, or other person, firm, or corporation for publishing, broadcasting, telecasting, or otherwise disseminating any advertisement purchased by any person, firm, corporation, or association.
(b) No person, firm, corporation, group, or association, with intent to sell or in anywise dispose of real estate, merchandise, a security, service, or anything offered by that person, firm, corporation, group, or association, directly or indirectly, to the public for sale or distribution, or with intent to increase the consumption thereof or to induce the public in any manner to enter into any obligation relating thereto or to acquire title thereto or an interest therein, shall make, publish, disseminate, circulate, or place before the public or cause, directly or indirectly, to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed before the public in this state, in a newspaper or other publication, on radio or television, or in the form of a book, notice, handbill, poster, bill, circular, pamphlet, or letter, or in any other way, an advertisement of any sort regarding real estate, merchandise, a security, service, or anything so offered to the public, which advertisement contains any assertion, representation, or statement of fact that is untrue, deceptive, or misleading.
(c) (1) It is deemed deceptive advertising, within the meaning of this subsection, for any person, firm, or corporation, engaged in the business of buying or selling new or secondhand merchandise, wearing apparel, jewelry, furniture, a piano, phonograph, or other musical instrument, motor vehicle, stock, or, generally, any form of real, personal, or mixed property, or in the business of furnishing any kind of service or investment to advertise such articles, property, or service for sale, in any manner indicating that the sale is being made by a private party or householder not engaged in such business.
(2) Any such firm, corporation, group, or association engaged in any such business in advertising goods, property, or service for sale shall affirmatively and unmistakably indicate and state that the seller is a business concern and not a private party.
(d) (1) Any person, firm, corporation, group, association, or the agent or servant of any other firm, corporation, group, or association violating any provision of this section is guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or be imprisoned in the county jail not more than sixty (60) days, or by both fine and imprisonment.
(2) Each sale, advertisement, or representation in contravention of a provision of this section is deemed a distinct offense and subjects the offender to punishment under subdivision (d)(1) of this section.