In recent years, a number of states have passed laws governing automatic renewals. New York is the latest state to jump on this trend. Its current law only applies to certain contracts “for service, maintenance, or repair to or for any real or personal property.” The new law, which will become effective in February 2021,
NAD Considers Meaning of “Best Possible” Claims
Comcast recently challenged a number of claims that AT&T made about its Wi-Fi services in two blog posts on the AT&T website. The posts claimed that the company provided the “best possible Wi-Fi experience,” the “best possible in-home connections,” and the “best possible home internet experience.”
Comcast argued that consumers would read the posts to
Peloton Faces Uphill Ride on “Ever-Growing” Claims
Peloton Interactive sells exercise bikes and treadmills that can stream live and on-demand fitness classes. For a while, the company advertised that its library of classes was “ever-growing.” Although that may have been true when the company first made the claim, things changed. In response to a lawsuit related to the music used in some
NAD Considers Context in Puffery Argument
Stokely-Van Camp (or “SVC”), the makers of Gatorade, recently challenged claims made by BodyArmor about its SuperDrink and Lyte sports drinks, including banners with the following text:
- The only sports drink. No artificial sweeteners, flavors, or dyes. Potassium packed electrolytes.
- The only sports drink. Low calorie. No sugar added. No artificial sweeteners, flavors, or dyes.
That Was Then, This Is Now: Trump Administration Proposes Section 230 Reforms
Continuing its intense focus on internet platforms’ role in political debate and the liability protections they receive under the Communications Decency Act (CDA), 47 U.S.C. § 230, the Trump Administration this week submitted a legislative proposal that would substantially limit platforms’ Section 230 immunity. The Administration’s legislative proposal joins several other bills that take aim
New Decision Warns Against Reposting Photos on Social Media
Companies get excited when they find pictures of celebrities wearing (or using) their products, and often wonder whether they can post those pictures to their social media accounts. In addition to the right of publicity issues we’ve noted in the past, a new decision from a federal court in New York serves as a reminder
NAD Addresses Disclosures on Influencer TikTok Videos
In its Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers guide, the FTC recommended that when an influencer promotes a brand in a video, the influencer should disclose any connection it has to the brand in the video itself. In other words, the disclosure shouldn’t just appear in the description that accompanies the video. Although we haven’t
FTC Announces $10 Million Settlement Over Automatic Renewals
We’ve written about automatic renewals before, but the $10 million price tag in the FTC’s settlement with the operators of ABCmouse should grab your attention.
The FTC alleged that over a three-year period, the company advertised membership programs without clearly disclosing that the programs would automatically renew at the end of the term. The automatic
Six FTC Rules and Guides You Should Know
When we posted about a $9.3 million FTC settlement involving the Mail Order Rule, many people commented that they had never heard of that Rule, and wondered what else they might be missing.
In fact, the FTC has more than 50 Rules and Guides. Don’t let that number scare you – many of these rules
NAD Urges P&G to Clean Up Detergent Claims
A recent NAD decision that focuses on detergent claims touches on some issues – including implied claims and disclosures – that are relevant to all advertisers. The decision covers a lot of ground, but we’ll focus on a few key points that translate across industries.
The front label of Tide’s Purclean bottle prominently features the