Business opportunity advertisements

Guidelines for advertising staff

If you are advertising for employment, under the Australian Consumer Law you cannot make false or misleading representations. The law applies to print and online advertising.

You cannot make false and misleading statements in your advertisements

Misleading or deceptive business opportunity advertisements are often promoted as ‘work from home’. They usually share the same warning signs or characteristics. These include requests for:

• goods that do not work, or do not match the description or sample provided
• recruitment of other people to a scheme, these may be pyramid selling schemes
• payment for a ‘system’ to make money which may not work as it is supposed to.

Check advertisements that:

• fail to provide enough information
• fail to identify the nature of the opportunity
• target people who are disadvantaged such as people with limited employment history or poor language skills
• request bank account or credit card details
• make claims of guaranteed income with little effort or risk
• require payment of an up-front fee for business plans, start-up materials or software
• are advertised under a misleading category, for example, an advertisement in the positions vacant section that is actually promoting training courses.

Information you should include in your business opportunity advertisements

Check that advertisements clearly:

• identify your business, by providing your business name, contact person, the full street address and phone number
• identify the true nature of the business opportunity including a description of position in clear simple terms
• outline the product, service or industry involved
• state if a cash investment is required, and if so, the dollar amount.