New "sale" regulations in effect for retailers

The Attorney General's office regulates retail advertising as part of it's consumer protection responsibilities. Some of them include the need to disclose terms in an audible manner and at a speed equal to the other speech in the advertisement. Print ads can't contain important language that is too small, or hard to read due to lack of contrast. They have recently softened the requirements for marking items on sale. Now the stores can mark an item on sale even though the item has been at the reduced price for most of the year. In the past, it had to have been at full price for the majority of the time. The new regulations are here. The regulations also cover "buy one get one free", "if purchases separately" and gifts. The Globe has an overview of the regulations here. For more information check our page on Shopping and Returns, and Consumer Protection.