"One day before the deadline" ·"Last chance" online online lecture deceptive advertising sanctions

The Fair Trade Commission has decided to impose a fine of 750 million won on Megastudy Education and Champ Study, an online lecture company that repeatedly contains deceptive phrases such as "a day before the deadline" or "a last chance" while selling online lecture products.

The Fair Trade Commission said Mega Study Education has been selling online lectures for civil service exams for seven years since October 2016, repeating advertisements usually every week with phrases such as "last this week" and "imminent sales deadline."

In addition, Champ Study has sold language online lectures for eight years since November 2016, and even added a digital timer, saying that the deadline is just around the corner, but the next commercial sales were the same conditions as previous commercials.

The FTC decided to impose sanctions, saying such actions put psychological pressure on test takers that there would be no more special benefits after the deadline, which could hinder them from making the right choice.

They also said they had decided to impose sanctions, saying they already knew that limited-time sales advertising could be unfair, such as signing self-compliance agreements between companies to prevent unfair advertising in advance.