MilConsumer Blog Feed

What marketing techniques do kids, including teens, encounter in the various digital spaces they frequent? And what do we know about their cognitive abilities at different ages and developmental stages to recognize and understand advertising content? Those are just some of the topics on the table at the FTC’s October 19, 2022, virtual event , Protecting Kids from Stealth Advertising in Digital Media . As the just-released agenda demonstrates, you...

Whether you’re a gig worker, work at a business that relies on gig workers, or enjoy the benefits of their labor, the FTC just announced a policy statement about the gig economy that merits your attention. There’s no denying that the gig economy has grown exponentially. With 16% of Americans reporting that they earn money through the gig economy, a Federal Reserve study estimates that gig work accounts for hundreds of billions of dollars in...

It’s ironic that the only thing clear about digital dark patterns is the FTC’s commitment to protect consumers from the injury they inflict. A new FTC Staff Report sheds light on the ways that marketers can manipulate people into buying merchandise or giving up personal information through the use of dark patterns – a phrase that describes a broad range of deceptive design elements. If your business is involved in web-based commerce, the Report...

Most people now rely on online reviews of products and services to help decide what to buy or where to buy it, and many companies rely on reviews to attract customers. People should be able to trust that these reviews reflect the honest opinions of actual customers. But several FTC cases, including a pending complaint against Roomster , show that some companies abuse that trust by posting fake or deceptive reviews. Such reviews are used to tout a...

Clear your calendar this afternoon – Thursday, September 8, 2022 – and watch the live webcast of the FTC’s virtual public forum regarding its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on commercial surveillance and data security practices . Chair Kahn will convene the event at 2:00 ET. Following remarks from Commis sioner Slaughter and FTC staff, the first panel will discuss industry perspectives on commercial surveillance and data security. The...

In the annals of marketing, “pre-approved” ranks right up there with “free” and “low-calorie” as a term guaranteed to attract people’s attention. The FTC just announced a $3 million proposed settlement with Credit Karma for allegedly luring consumers in with deceptive promises they had been “pre-approved” for financial products, including major credit cards. The truth? For many of these offers, almost a third of the people who received a “pre...

Are we the only ones who remember C.W. McCall’s novelty song, “Convoy”? To paraphrase the lyrics of one of the few #1 hits about truckers, “Mercy sakes alive,” the FTC is “puttin’ the hammer down” on false claims that imported products are American-made. The agency just announced a proposed settlement with Electrowarmth Products, LLC, and owner Daniel W. Grindle , alleging their Made in USA claims for heated truck bunk mattress pads were, well...

Reviews and endorsements can be highly influential when consumers are shopping for widgets and gadgets. But when they’re looking for the right platform to use in a rental search, the personal experience of other people takes on even more significance. A complaint filed by the FTC and six States alleges that room finder platform Roomster and its owners used thousands of fake reviews – we call them “testi- phony -als” – to lure consumers to its...

When people seek medical care or visit other sensitive locations, they may think their presence is confidential. Little do most consumers know that if they have their phones with them, their location – for example, at a women’s health clinic, a therapist’s office, an addiction treatment center, or a place of worship – may be collected by tech companies. From there, that uniquely personal data becomes yet another commodity bought and sold in the...

Commercial surveillance refers to the pervasive collection, tracking, and monetization of personal data. It’s an enterprise that has proven astonishingly lucrative for platforms and other businesses, but often thrives in the shadows without the knowledge of the consumers whose personal information is their stock-in-trade. The FTC has announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking – and a September 8, 2022, virtual public forum – to take a...