A company advertised cleaning services on its website with the phrase "we aim to provide high-quality, reliable service by employing only honest Finnish cleaning professionals". The Ombudsman for Minorities found that the advertisement wording could be assumed to discriminate based on citizenship or ethnic origin, and transferred the review of the marketing to the Finnish Consumer Agency.
Under the Consumer Protection Act, marketing must follow good practices. As the marketing regulations of the Act have been amended, more specific definitions have been added that were previously subject to interpretation according to government bills, established practices, and Consumer Ombudsman policies. One violation of good marketing practices that has been more specifically defined is discrimination based on ethnic or national origin, citizenship, or language.
The advertisement mentioned above was determined to be in violation for precisely these reasons. The marketing can be considered a breach of good practice regardless of whether or not the company portrayed certain groups in a derogatory way intentionally. The actual recruiting practices of the company are also irrelevant in terms of how the marketing is evaluated. The Consumer Agency found that it is not good practice to suggest that employing only Finns would be a way to ensure reliable and high-quality service. The company changed its marketing by removing the word "Finnish" from the advertisement.