Blog Posts Tagged with Advertising and Marketing

If you have clients in the auto industry, you’ve seen the ads: “We’ll pay off your trade no matter what you owe . . . even if you’re upside down.” It’s an attractive claim to people struggling with...

Six online marketers have settled FTC charges stemming from their use of fake news websites to market acai berry supplements and other weight loss products. If you’re an affiliate marketer or you’re...

We’re glad you’re visiting the BCP Business Center and thanks for your questions. Here are answers to some of your AQs . (Calling them FAQs on a site devoted to truth in advertising doesn’t seem quite...

When consumers comparison shop, cost is crucial. That’s why it’s so important for companies to make sure what they say about their prices is accurate. If businesses need a timely reminder, the FTC’s...

The terms of an FTC settlement apply just to that business, of course. But clued-in companies know there’s a lot that can be learned from someone else’s alleged misstep. The FTC’s law enforcement...

When the FTC brings a law enforcement action, we hope companies take notice. But sometimes there’s a nugget or two that businesses can glean from a decision by the FTC staff to close an investigation...

The FTC v. Lane Labs story started with shark cartilage and the latest chapter involves a contempt ruling from a federal judge. If the FTC’s advertising substantiation doctrine is relevant to your...

As anyone who’s watched TV in the past decade knows, Kevin Trudeau is — to use the term coined by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — an “infomercialist.” The Seventh Circuit...

In celebration of Halloween — and with apologies to Edgar Allen Poe — here’s our take on what companies can do to make sure spooky business practices don’t come back to haunt them. Once upon a...

FTC watchers will remember Phillip A. Flora. In the first case of its kind, the FTC alleged that Mr. Flora was a One-Man Message Machine, churning out a “mind-boggling” number of unsolicited...

The FTC’s settlement with Reebok requires the company to get their ad claims in shape and works out a $25 million refund program for people who bought EasyTone and RunTone shoes and apparel. Of course...

Shape up your substantiation or tone down your ads. That’s the message marketers should take from the FTC’s $25 million settlement with Reebok for false and unsubstantiated claims for the company’s...

Here’s how AcneApp and Acne Pwner were supposed to work. Buyers downloaded the apps from their favorite app store. After selecting a light — blue to fight bacteria or red to heal, some ads said — they...

“You can settle your credit card debt for pennies on the dollar without filing for bankruptcy.” For people struggling to stay afloat, Debt Relief USA’s national TV ads must have seemed like a lifeline...

There are some combinations that raise immediate compliance issues for responsible businesses — and kids’ privacy and mobile applications are among them. A settlement announced by the FTC — the agency...

Thinking about using a pre-checked box to obligate buyers in an online transaction? Maybe you’re considering a negative option arrangement without clearly and conspicuously disclosing the details of...

Say “spam” and most business executives think of annoying messages that litter their IN box. But the CAN-SPAM Act and the FTC’s CAN-SPAM Rule cover a much broader range of commercial email. Yes, that...

A skin cream that can reduce body size. Are historians sure that wasn’t what Ponce de Leon was seeking? It’s certainly what buyers are looking for, if ads are any indication. But claims like that have...

Yes, it’s a global marketplace, but geography still matters. Misrepresentations about where a company is based can have significant implications for buyers. That’s the message of an FTC settlement...

You can swim freestyle. You can work freelance. And there are those among us who still hold up lighters and yell “Play Free Bird.” But for marketers, one thing you can’t do is advertise a product as...