Business Blog

If your company has made misleading Made in USA claims and represents that the inaccuracies have been corrected, it’s unwise to put ongoing compliance on the back burner. Conduct like that can move an advertiser out of the frying pan and into the fire. Case in point: the FTC’s proposed complaint alleging that kitchen and home notable Williams-Sonoma falsely represented its signature bakeware line as Made in USA.

It’s an unprecedented time. But even in the midst of monumental change, the FTC’s commitment to its consumer protection mission remains constant. Here’s a statement from Chairman Simons about the ongoing work of the Bureau of Consumer Protection:

If you say you’re better, you’d better be better – and you’d better have appropriate proof to back up that claim. That’s a takeaway tip for businesses from the FTC’s proposed settlement with Federal-Mogul Motorparts, LLC.

It’s a disturbing trend. Companies are targeting older consumers, claiming to have easy answers for serious diseases for which there may not be a proven cure. That’s one allegation in the FTC’s action against Nevada-based telemarketer Health Center, Inc.  Another count challenges what we call “own-dorsements.”

The practice is called piggybacking, but it’s not child’s play. It’s where a person with iffy credit pays a credit repair company to be listed as an authorized user on the account of someone with good credit – even though they don’t actually have access. The idea is that the person with bad credit can inflate their own credit score and get the money-saving benefits of better credit by “piggybacking” on the credit of a stranger. That’s how a Denver-based business pitched its services to cash-strapped consumers.

The “what” of the FTC’s settlement with Teami, LLC, shouldn’t come as a surprise. The complaint alleges the defendants took in more than $15 million by deceptively claiming their array of teas could cause rapid and substantial weight loss, “fight against cancerous cells,” decrease migraines, unclog arteries, and prevent colds and flu. What’s different is the “how.” The defendants advertised primarily through a massive social media campaign.

Turning eighteen was a momentous birthday for most of us and the same could be said for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s Safeguards Rule. Finalized in 2002 and in effect since 2003, the Safeguards Rule requires “financial institutions” to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive information security program for handling customer information.

To review everything the FTC did in 2019 dealing with consumer privacy and data security – Enforcement, Advocacy, Rules, Workshops, Consumer Education, Business Guidance, and International Engagement – it could take days to compile all that information. The FTC has an easier way to share those developments with your company, clients, and colleagues.

You're a heartbreaker.
Dream faker.
Trouble maker.
Don't you mess around with me.

With apologies to Pat Benatar, our version of her hit Heartbreaker could join Love Stinks, You’re No Good, and Lips are Movin’ on our slightly skewed Valentine’s Day playlist. Maybe it’s the decades of dealing with deception, but February 14th reminds us to remind others that sometimes hearts and flowers can give way to hurts and sours – and reports in the FTC Consumer Sentinel Database support what we’re saying.