Michigan Retailers calls furniture ad guidelines flawed

For Immediate Release
October 10, 2002

LANSING — Retail furniture advertising guidelines issued by the Michigan attorney general's office are badly flawed and should be thrown out, the Michigan Retailers Association said today.

"The more our members become familiar with these vague and overreaching guidelines, the more problems they discover," said Larry Meyer, chairman and CEO of the 5,800-member retail association.

"That's not surprising, because the guidelines are the result of a flawed process that circumvented procedures which would have ensured widespread participation from the retail industry and consumers. We need to throw out these flawed guidelines and start again, this time providing ample opportunity for everyone to participate in the process."

The guidelines were issued by Attorney General Jennifer Granholm in August. Their flaws include:

Although the guidelines were developed in cooperation with the Better Business Bureau and the Michigan Chapter of the National Home Furnishings Industry, Meyer branded it "false advertising to claim these guidelines were developed with the support of the retail industry. The process used by the attorney general's office cut out most of the retail industry—including MRA, the nation's largest state retail association."

Under the state Administrative Procedures Act, the substantive changes should have been adopted as administrative rules, not merely guidelines. The difference, Meyer pointed out, is that rulemaking carries the force of law and requires more widespread participation in the process. Agencies are not to adopt guidelines in lieu of rules.

The guidelines unfairly single out the furniture sector of the retail industry and undermine the reputation of fair and honest merchants.

The guidelines don't include a definition of furniture retailer, making them both vague and overreaching.

The guidelines apply to price marking in the store as well as advertising, causing fair and honest merchants to bear the expense of remarking thousands of items in their showrooms.

The guidelines can actually prevent retailers from advertising special savings from manufacturers on new lines of merchandise, depriving consumers of important information when making purchasing decisions.

"The attorney general has authority under the Consumer Protection Act to take action against any retailer who practices deceptive advertising," said Meyer. "These guidelines and the way they were adopted are the wrong way to address problems. MRA is considering legal action to enjoin enforcement of the guidelines and send them back to the drawing board."

The Michigan Retailers Association is the unified voice of retailing in Michigan and the nation's largest state trade association of general merchandise retailers. MRA's more than 5,800 retail business members operate more than 13,000 stores across the state.