By Matthew Romano, Columnist
Have you ever wondered about the fine print at the bottom of a television commercial, a contract, a product, or an Internet ad? Not sure if you're being mislead by false advertising? There is no longer a need to fear being scammed anymore.
MousePrint.org is a consumer education website dedicated to "turning advertising on its head" by focusing on an ad's asterisked fine print footnote rather than the headline. Fine print or "mouse print" is hidden small print used in advertising, contracts, or on product labels. In the worst cases, the mouse print will change the meaning of the primary claims or promises being made. Sometimes, the catch is not even disclosed. MousePrint.org's goal is to help educate the public about the catches or "gotchas" in mouse prints and disclaimers.
In going through the website, it's rather amusing to see what kind of hilarious content can be found in various mouse prints trying to trick people. For example, America's Got Talent winner Michael Grimm has been supposedly awarded $1,000,000. However, the mouse print shown on television when he won had said, "The prize, which totals $1,000,000, is payable in a financial annuity over forty years, or the contestant may choose to receive the present cash value of such annuity."
Essentially, this means that Grimm will be receiving less than $500 a week for 40 years. That's a mere $25,000 a year — hardly enough to change one's life. The alternative lump sum amount is not stated, but after taxes, it is most likely around $300,000.
In many cases, such as vacation deals, credit cards, banking, cell phone contracts, car dealerships, and warranties, the mouse print is merely an unexpected surprise for the reader. For example, Capital One has recently started a major national advertising campaign boasting its high interest savings rate compared to nothing paid by competitors. In addition to paying 1.35% interest, you also get a 10% quarterly bonus on the amount of interest earned in the previous quarter.
However, in addition to the $1,000 minimum balance to get the advertised interest rate, the nearly unreadable mouse print says, "To receive the bonus, your account must be open and you either must maintain an average balance of $10,000 each month in your account or own an active Capital One credit card in good standing with at least one transaction per calendar month."
That is a pretty significant requirement to hide — you need $10,000+ to earn the bonus interest.
Fine print is not essentially illegal. But, MousePrint.org says that advertisers are, "not safe from false advertising claims merely because an ad discloses the truth in some minimal manner." The use of asterisks and fine print footnotes are regulated by a number of state and federal laws.
Informative and enjoyable, MousePrint.org teaches us that we should not skim through or overlook fine print, lest we become ourselves the subject of a scam.