The Full Federal Court of Australia has dismissed appeals brought by Latitude Finance Australia and Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd over misleading conduct and false or misleading representations that they made in a national advertising campaign.
The campaign promoted a 60-month interest free and no deposit payment method for goods purchased at Harvey Norman stores. The adverts were published and broadcast thousands of times across Australian television, radio and in newspapers between January 2020 and August 2021.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was concerned that the adverts did not make clear that consumers were required to take out a credit card, such as the Latitude GO Mastercard, to purchase goods, and were liable to pay monthly account service fees and other establishment fees.
Latitude and Harvey Norman both filed an application for leave to appeal the decision that they had breached the law, but the Full Court dismissed the appeals at a hearing on 28 August 2025, agreeing with the assessment of the trial judge that these undisclosed conditions were material.
An image of the advert in the Adelaide Advertiser, dated 23 April 2020.
