The Court held that Coles' 'Down Down' promotional tickets, which displayed 'was/now' pricing, conveyed to ordinary consumers that the Down Down price was a genuine discount from the previous price, and that implicit in this representation was that the previous price had been offered for a reasonable period. The Court found that 13 of 14 impugned tickets were misleading in contravention of ss 18(1) and 29(1)(i) of the ACL because the products had been sold at the 'Was' price for only approximately four weeks — materially shorter than the twelve-week minimum the Court identified as necessary for manufactured and packaged grocery products — notwithstanding that the price increases were commercially justified responses to genuine supplier cost price increases. The Court left open the precise minimum establishment period for other product types or markets, holding that the assessment is evaluative and context-dependent.
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