Specsavers in online advertising battle

Specsavers and online retailer Coastal Contacts locked horns last week in Australia's Federal Court after the British multiple alleged the Canadian online giant had used misleading advertising in a key word campaign. The judge granted Specsavers a temporary injunction against the adverts.

The allegations stemmed from a marketing campaign in which Coastal Contacts ran a series of Google AdWords advertisements on results pages where users searched for 'contacts' and 'Specsavers'. Adverts stating, 'Buy online and save up to 70 per cent' were placed next to the search results by Coastal Contacts.

Legal representatives for Specsavers said this was a 'hanging representation,' and argued consumers who used those search terms could possibly deduce that a 70 per cent saving could be made when compared with Specsavers itself.