Dec 18 2009
Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today announced that the company has received notification from the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices (FTC) allowing Kodak to continue to advertise that consumers can “Save on average $110 per year on ink” with KODAK All-in-One inkjet printers.
Kodak accepted the FTC’s recommendation that the company disclose more prominently that a consumer will achieve the stated average cost savings by printing only four pages per day or 1,500 pages per year. The FTC indicated that no further action is warranted at this time and that their investigation is now closed.
Moving forward, Kodak will continue to promote the fact that its consumer inkjet products enable consumers to “Save on average $110 per year on ink based on just four pages per day.”
Earlier this year Hewlett-Packard challenged Kodak’s inkjet printer advertising at the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (NAD), an advertising industry self-regulatory forum. Kodak declined to participate in the NAD’s voluntary process and the NAD, per their standard procedure, referred the matter to the Federal Trade Commission.
“We will continue to communicate our unique value proposition as compared to the leading inkjet printer companies and we appreciate the FTC’s assistance in making our claims even clearer and more relevant for consumers,” said Randy Brody, Director and Vice President, Marketing, Kodak Inkjet Systems. “Despite competitor attempts to cloud the issue, the savings consumers can experience by switching to Kodak inkjet printers is significant and is backed by extensive data and thorough testing by independent third parties.”
Kodak first introduced its revolutionary line of consumer all-in-one printers in 2007 to address consumers’ number-one dissatisfaction with home printing – the high cost of ink.
Kodak solves that issue by charging a modest premium for its inkjet printer and a fair price for high-quality ink ($9.99 US MSRP for black ink and $14.99 US MSRP for a 5-color cartridge). Consumers have embraced Kodak’s value proposition, as evidenced by the fact that sales of Kodak inkjet printers and ink have been growing by double-digits, significantly outpacing the rest of the inkjet industry.