What does “natural” mean in the context of product advertising? Consumers see phrases like “natural,” “all natural,” and “100% natural” over and over again in modern marketing. The trouble is that “natural” may not mean what consumers expect it to mean, thereby opening companies up to claims of false or misleading advertising.
Two recent lawsuits
Soy milk. Almond milk. Coconut milk. With the increase in health-conscious shopping and non-dairy diets, these terms and others have become household names.
But the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) recently suggested these products don’t constitute milk at all, since they do not come from animals. According to multiple sources, during the Politico Pro
The FTC has amended its Jewelry Guides (formally, the “Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries”) which aim to help prevent deception in jewelry marketing by providing clear standards.
The Jewelry Guides, like other industry guides published by the FTC, are intended to help marketers understand their responsibilities with respect to avoiding consumer
When evaluating how to address what you believe constitutes infringement, false advertising, or unfair competition, the decision to send a cease and desist letter or to file a lawsuit becomes an important one. Is there a right approach in each instance? No. There are pros and cons to each and, in a typical lawyer answer,
The FTC filed a lawsuit earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah charging telemarketers with violating the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The FTC alleges that defendants deceptively claimed their “business coaching” would help consumers earn thousands of dollars a month by starting a home-based Internet business.
When hoping to resolve advertising concerns or disputes quickly and easily, companies should not only consider utilizing the National Advertising Division (“NAD”), but also the potentially lesser-known Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (“ERSP”). ESRP is a self-regulatory program administrated for the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council (“ASRC”) by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The program was established
When marketing products or services to children, companies should be aware of applicable statutes and guidance and should be particularly cautious with their advertising claims.
Lanham Act & FTC Act
The prohibitions against false, misleading, and deceptive advertising under the Lanham Act and Section 5 of the FTC Act of course apply to advertising claims
The FTC filed a lawsuit this week against Lending Club, a peer-to-peer lending company that operates an online marketplace for personal loans. The lawsuit accuses Lending Club of luring consumers to its website with online advertisements promising “no hidden fees,” only to go ahead and deduct significant “up-front” origination fees from the loan proceeds. As
Failing to have adequate substantiation for advertising claims can land companies in hot water. Case in point: The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently announced that it had settled charges against a company and its CEO related to their advertising of anti-aging products using what the FTC believed were false or unsubstantiated claims. According to the
Following up on my blog post related to the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) prohibition on illegal sales calls and robocalls, today the FTC issued its National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2017. Now in its ninth year, the 2017 fiscal year Data Book contains “statistical data about phone numbers on