The Advertisement for the Pet Toys Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Advertisement for the Pet Toys - Assignment Example Therefore, Pets R Us made a legal conditional promise. On the other hand, considering the conditions the advertisement was made in, it may be regarded as an invitation to treat. An invitation to treat represents â€Å"an expression of willingness to negotiate. A person making an invitation to treat does not intend to be bound as soon as it is accepted by the person to whom the statement is addressed.†2 Therefore, the main difference between an invitation to treat and an offer consists in their binding power. That is why establishing the right nature of the advertisement is imperative, considering the legal implications of both. Advertisements are generally regarded as invitations to treat; therefore, the person that is advertising is not compelled to sell to every customer. The display of goods with a price ticket attached to a shop window or on a supermarket shelf is not an offer to sell but an invitation for customers to make an offer to buy. (Fisher v Bell [1960] 3 All ER 731) The case of Partridge v Crittenden [1968] 1 WLR 1204 is a leading case in this matter. The court held that where the appellant advertised to sell wild birds, he was not offering to sell them. Lord Parker CJ commented that â€Å"it did not make "business sense" for advertisements to be offers, as the person making the advertisement may find himself in a situation where he would be contractually obliged to sell more goods than he actually owned.†3 This makes sense, since in the case of Petz R Us if the advertisement is to be regarded as an offer, it means that the store is bound to sell pet toys to everyone who has read the advertisement and has shown interest in buying the product. Considering that the advertisement was published in a magazine and was available to everybody who read it, it would have been at least awkward to expect the store to have enough supplies for everybody.  Ã‚   I