18.2-216 - Untrue, deceptive or misleading advertising, inducements, writings or documents. - Virginia Statutes

§ 18.2-216. Untrue, deceptive or misleading advertising, inducements,writings or documents.

Any person, firm, corporation or association who, with intent to sell or inanywise dispose of merchandise, securities, service or anything offered bysuch person, firm, corporation or association, directly or indirectly, to thepublic for sale or distribution or with intent to increase the consumptionthereof, or to induce the public in any manner to enter into any obligationrelating thereto, or to acquire title thereto, or any interest therein,makes, publishes, disseminates, circulates or places before the public, orcauses, directly or indirectly to be made, published, disseminated,circulated or placed before the public, in a newspaper or other publications,or in the form of a book, notice, handbill, poster, blueprint, map, bill,tag, label, circular, pamphlet or letter or in any other way, anadvertisement of any sort regarding merchandise, securities, service, land,lot or anything so offered to the public, which advertisement contains anypromise, assertion, representation or statement of fact which is untrue,deceptive or misleading, or uses any other method, device or practice whichis fraudulent, deceptive or misleading to induce the public to enter into anyobligation, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

The actions prohibited in this section, shall be construed as including (i)the advertising in any manner by any person of any goods, wares ormerchandise as a bankrupt stock, receiver's stock or trustee's stock, if suchstock contains any goods, wares or merchandise put therein subsequent to thedate of the purchase by such advertiser of such stock, and if suchadvertisement of any such stock fail to set forth the fact that such stockcontains other goods, wares or merchandise put therein, subsequent to thedate of the purchase by such advertiser of such stock in type as large as thetype used in any other part of such advertisement, including the caption ofthe same, it shall be a violation of this section; and (ii) the use of anywriting or document which appears to be, but is not in fact a negotiablecheck, negotiable draft or other negotiable instrument unless the writingclearly and conspicuously, in at least 14-point bold type, bears the phrase"THIS IS NOT A CHECK" printed on its face.

(Code 1950, § 59.1-44; 1968, c. 439; 1975, cc. 14, 15, 507; 2005, c. 150.)