The Hutch Hair Restorer Company

In this case, the Hutch Hair Restorer Company manufactured a hair restorer product, thus the company claimed after using it for a month the hair will grow back. The company went ahead and published advertisements in supermarkets, the company continued and claimed that it would give a free wig to anyone who remain bald after using this hair restorer product with regard to the very instructions that were given and set out in the advertisement. Rahman who is a bald person buys this by seeing the advertisement which states ‘A free hair wig will be given to any person who remains bald after using Hutch hair restorer every day for one month!’.

A contract is like a promise between different parties. It is an understanding, a deal between two or more people or organizations to do certain things. Each person or organization who agrees to do something in a contract is called a party. The statement in the advertisement is a unilateral offer (the offer that is made to the world at large). In Malaysia, an offer in the context of the Contract Act 1950 is known as a ‘proposal’, which is defined in S. 2(a) of the Act and a contract is made when there is an acceptance, this had been stated in S. 2(b) the Act. A mere contract has been formed when Rahman sees the advertisement and accepts to buy the hair restorer. When both offer and acceptance obtained, a promise had formed. Therefore, it is a promise to the customers who buy that product. According to S. 2(e) of the Act, every promise and every set of promises, forming the consideration for each other, is an agreement, and by referring to S. 2(h) of the Act, agreement enforcement by law is a contract. Hence proven it is a contract between the customers and the company. The contract includes express term which is they are expressly or specifically stated, either orally or in writing. Rahman used it according to the advertisement in the supermarket but it didn’t work how it was supposed to work. But this contract was terminated as the company refused to supply the wig on the basis that it was a marketing gimmick and was not supposed to be taken seriously. This is a breach of contract. A contract can be terminated by several ways which are, performance, frustration, breach and agreement. A breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained- for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non- performance or interference with the other party’s performance. (Breach of Contract, 2017)

Therefore, the company is supposed to keep the words. Generally speaking, most advertisement are called invitation to treat, this is where one party invites another to make an offer; it is in itself not an offer. This is important to note as an invitation to treat has no legal value in the eyes of the law. But the Hutch company, has made a unilateral offer through advertisement. An advertisement becomes an offer not an invitation to treat when it has a reward and an actionable term to which the reward may be acquired. It also has to be clear, simple and advertised to the public (unilateral offer).