March Madness is upon us! Whether you’re filling out multiple brackets or studiously avoiding a certain co-worker because your team missed out, odds are you’re aware the annual men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments are here. But you may also be wondering, how can my business capture the moment in its advertising? The short answer: … Continue Reading
Join Randy Shaheen and Daniel Kaufman as they discuss the Federal Trade Commission’s new Health Products Compliance Guidance. During this webinar, they will share their insights about the new Guidance, highlight areas of particular importance for anyone involved in marketing or analyzing health claims, and explain how this new document differs from the agency’s two-decade-old … Continue Reading
As consumers have increasingly looked to see whether the companies they do business with have taken steps to benefit the environment, companies have often responded by announcing environmental goals. Why goals? First, a goal of 100 percent carbon emissions reduction by 2040 sounds a whole lot better and loftier than saying last year, we reduced … Continue Reading
I love the Superbowl. I couldn’t give a toss about football. I am there for the snacks, the snacks and more snacks. And Rihanna (congrats, Mama!). And the ADS! Every year, we ad lawyers measure our worth by how many Superbowl ads we have been asked to opine on. “Which ones are yours, Mom?” my … Continue Reading
My family knows that I get grumpy if we get to the theater after the previews have started, as previews are among my favorite parts of the in-theater versus stream-from-home experience. Yet many moviegoers may feel that the trailer didn’t accurately reflect the movie as a whole. But does such a feeling of disappointment rise … Continue Reading
As we head into 2023, advertisers, publishers, ad tech companies and others involved in the digital advertising ecosystem are facing significant challenges when it comes to data. It can be overwhelming: five new U.S. state data privacy laws to contend with; a continued regulatory focus in Europe, including a new suite of proposed legislation relating … Continue Reading
Nothing says Holiday Season like the final public Federal Trade Commission meeting of the very long year. The lights are hung, joy is sort of in the air and we turn to our four commissioners for even more holiday cheer. Well actually, this week there were just three – Commissioner Wilson was not in attendance … Continue Reading
For months now we have been talking about dark patterns and all the regulatory chatter associated with them. Many, including us, have been wondering whether it would end up being much ado about nothing, with dark patterns just being a new name for practices such as bait and switch that have long been considered unlawful. … Continue Reading
Amy Mudge and Daniel Kaufman Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosted an event to look at kids’ digital marketing. Here is a rough transcript; and if you have a spare five hours, you can watch the videos, which will soon be posted on the event page. The big question is whether the FTC will … Continue Reading
In a rare example of a sweepstakes leading to litigation, Coinbase and its promotion agency, Marden-Kane, were sued over a sweepstakes run by Coinbase and administered by Marden-Kane titled “Trade Doge. Win Doge.” As part of that sweepstakes, Coinbase offered prizes totaling $1.2 million of Dogecoin to individuals who purchased or sold $100 worth of … Continue Reading
We are not quite at the Matrix moment of a red pill/blue pill choice yet, but we are moving closer every day to the possibility of a fully immersive virtual world. And the regulators and watchdogs are already thinking about how we can protect the kids when they venture not outside in the real world … Continue Reading
A recent federal court decision found that FleetCor, a company that sells fuel card services to businesses, and its CEO had violated the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) Act through a series of deceptive and unfair acts and practices. It is not every day that the FTC sues the CEO of a publicly traded … Continue Reading
From Eminem to Snoop Dog, Tony Hawk to Lionel Messi, William Shatner to Brie Larson, music, sports, and Hollywood celebrities have eagerly jumped on the NFT (non-fungible token) bandwagon. Whether launching their own collections, purchasing an expensive profile pic, or simply endorsing new artists, celebrities have embraced blockchain technology and have been extolling the virtues … Continue Reading
Sometimes advertising lawyers can be real drama royals. But I do think the latest in the teeth-straightening wars at NAD deserves some attention. I am not yet sure if this signals a new direction for NAD or if this case will be more limited to cases with comparative savings messages. But its recommendation goes beyond … Continue Reading
It is too early to tell if we have a baby wipes war developing to compete with the diapers wars, but we certainly have had lots of activity this year involving the disposable cleanup cloths. An earlier action focused on the adequacy of the substantiation of a claim that WaterWipes were the “#1 wipe against … Continue Reading
If you have been to any kind of spa, beauty supply store or health food store in the past four years, chances are you have seen, if not purchased, a product with cannabidiol (CBD). The 2018 passage of the Farm Bill removed hemp-deprived products, like CBD, from the Controlled Substances Act, leading to a flood … Continue Reading
The ad creative has been produced and approved. The media plan has been crafted. Now it’s time to execute on the plan, and that involves buying the media – i.e., purchasing ad space to place your ads on different media channels (television, print, websites, etc.) so people can see them. Or maybe you’re a publisher … Continue Reading
“What is ad tech?” That is a question I’ve been asked and have answered numerous times. I recently joined BakerHostetler’s Chicago office in the Digital Assets and Data Management Practice Group after spending almost eight years at Publicis Groupe, where I led a team of attorneys supporting business units focused on media, data and advertising … Continue Reading
We spend many of our working hours – and far too many of our nonworking hours – talking about Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) issues, and we can confidently state that no one has ever said to us, “I sure do wish the agency would issue yet another policy statement.” With that, we turn … Continue Reading
Many of us have become accustomed to the fact that every June, with the calendar signaling LGBTQ+ pride month, we get the inevitable onslaught of corporate logos incorporating the colors of the rainbow flag. And at the end of June, the logos revert to their less colorful versions. The cynics among us like to focus … Continue Reading
When a new commissioner arrives at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission), there are some changes to expect as that new person gets up to speed and learns how different it is to be at the FTC versus watching what the Commission does from the outside. But the addition of a new commissioner can … Continue Reading
In Part I and Part II of this blog series, we introduced and discussed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” which have been recent targets of consumer class actions and regulatory enforcement due to their alleged human health risks. As a quick refresher, PFAS includes a class of more than … Continue Reading
The other day, we noticed an article announcing that legendary direct marketer Joe Sugarman had passed away. He had quite a career in the industry but was probably best known for the omnipresent BluBlocker sunglasses that were on heavy rotation in the 1980s and early ’90s. For younger readers, BluBlockers were ultra-cool sunglasses that promised … Continue Reading
We are bombarded with countless abbreviations every day – CPPA, GLBA, MSRP, SARS and BPA, to name just a few. Time to add one more to the list. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, colloquially known as PFAS, are a class of more than 4,700 chemical compounds, the components of which break down very slowly over time. … Continue Reading