Tag: advertising

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with protecting consumers in the marketplace. Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1) prohibits companies from utilizing “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce”. This standard has been applied to protect consumers from deceptive pricing schemes. With retail […]

As many know, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) regulates unfair and deceptive business practices including such practices on the internet. One of the more vexing recent issues has been business use of “consumer” reviews, “likes,” rating systems and similar types of product and service endorsements on websites and on social media. In September 2017, the […]

Businesses that engage in deceptive and unfair internet practices are subject to injunctions and large monetary damage awards under the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”). Just as importantly, the owners and principals of businesses can be held personally liable. In the case discussed below, FTC v. Ross, the website owner was fined $163 million […]

In certain advertising disputes, it may be possible and considerably more affordable to argue the advertising dispute before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, rather than taking the matter to court or to some other government entity. The NAD is a branch of the self-regulating Advertising Self-Regulatory Council (ASRC) […]

Disputes in advertising can be voluntarily resolved through a dispute resolution mechanism championed by the National Advertising Division (NAD). NAD is a division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus that handles voluntary dispute resolution for claims about false and misleading advertising. NAD proceedings are often used by either consumers who otherwise would band together […]