Biedronka loses to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The “anti-inflation shield” was misleading

The court upheld a fine of over PLN 160 million imposed by the president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection on Jeronimo Martins, the owner of Biedronka – the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection reported on Friday on the X platform. The company was fined for misleading advertising.

“The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection wins in court,” the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection announced on Friday on its profile on the X platform. – “The court agreed with the findings of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. It fully shared the findings and arguments of the President of the Office in relation to the identified practices and fines imposed on the company. Jeronimo Martins Polska, when advertising the 'Biedronka Anti-Inflation Shield' campaign, was misleading regarding the conditions, benefits and availability of the promotion regulations,” he said on UOKiK profile.

The Office indicated that “the court upheld the fine in the amount of over PLN 160 million.” He also assessed that “the judgment is a very important signal for the market and consumers.”

In our proceedings and the issued decision, we did not focus on “technical issues”, as the entrepreneur claimed, but on the consumers' right to clear and reliable information. Meanwhile, Biedronka customers had no opportunity to actually take advantage of the promotion on the terms presented by the entrepreneur in the advertising messages. Consumers expressed their negative perception of the campaign on social media, including: on the company's Facebook profile. Their votes were taken into account in the issued decision, confirmed by the court's ruling – said the president of the office, Tomasz Chróstny, quoted in the UOKiK entry.

The “Biedronka Anti-Inflation Shield” campaign was conducted in the chain's stores from April to June 2022. According to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the advertising messages were formulated in such a way as to attract the attention of consumers who care about low product prices and to make them believe that the products offered are the cheapest on the market. In a statement from June 2023, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) reported that Jeronimo Martins Polska did not register any notification that would meet the requirements of the regulations of the “Biedronka Anti-Inflation Shield”. (PAP)

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