Blog Posts Tagged with Advertising and Marketing Basics

Any marketer will tell you: great storytelling sells. Whether your product is a sports drink, a service, or a videogame loot box, the more your ads draw people in, the more likely it is they’ll buy...

We’ve heard it loud and clear from tens of thousands of people: hidden and misleading fees, also known as junk fees, hurt consumers and businesses. Today the FTC announced it is sending to the Federal...

The FTC has long regulated negative options through the Negative Option Rule and strategic enforcement actions. Today, the FTC builds on that work by announcing a set of common-sense revisions to the...

Ahoy there, restaurant owners and other friends! Gather around to hear about the restaurant that tricked people into thinking its shrimp and fish were wild caught right nearby, when, actually, they...

To safeguard the widgets in the warehouse, companies secure their facilities and put inventory controls in place. To protect assets that may be even more valuable – intellectual property like patents...

Think your MLM income disclosure statement is a model of clarity? Think again. Think your disclosure supports claims that participants can earn lots of extra money if they join? Think again (again)...

An anonymous messaging app marketed to kids and teens: What could possibly go wrong? A lot, allege the FTC and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. A complaint against NGL Labs and founders Raj...

Sometimes being the “Home of . . .” is an honorific to be proud of. Kudos, Cleveland, for rock ‘n’ roll, and thank you, Buffalo, for your contribution to chicken wings. But the Birthplace of Frauds...

Businesses, platforms, social media influencers, and others who advertise or promote products to children online all have a role to play in ensuring that the boundary between advertising and...

The INFORM Consumers Act took effect on June 27, 2023. The FTC has issued staff guidance for online marketplaces and now we have advice for online sellers whose businesses may be affected by the new...

No one would try to run a marathon with just a few days of preparation. It takes months of rigorous training before you can step up to the starting line with confidence. Of course, the process of...

You may have heard of simulation theory, the notion that nothing is real and we’re all part of a giant computer program. Let’s assume at least for the length of this blog post that this notion is...

There are prime numbers, irrational numbers, and Fibonacci’s numbers – but from a consumer protection perspective, no number is quite as sobering as the dollar amount that people reported losing to...

The FTC’s $275 million proposed settlement with Epic Games, owner of Fortnite, alleges the company violated the law by collecting personal information from kids under 13 without parental consent and...

Ask someone to picture the typical person who has experienced a scam and they may think of an older consumer taken in by a fast-talking fraudster. Regardless of the image they create, the results of...

Globe-trotting swindlers may try to evade law enforcement agencies intent on bringing them to justice. But they’re not factoring in the tenacity of public servants like Assistant United States...

You have to say this about scammers: They’re up on current events. As early as February 2020, con artists were already using the coronavirus as a hook for swindles and scams and the FTC was sounding...

In many ways, gift cards ushered in a win-win era. Better gift-giving (and getting) for consumers and increased sales for retailers. But leave it to scammers to try to mess up a good thing. According...

At the Monterey Pop Festival, the legendary Jimi Hendrix reportedly one-upped The Who by setting fire to his guitar and his amplifier. The legendary – but fictional – Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap...

“It’s the Wild West out there!” How often have you heard that statement made about health claims for products containing CBD? But here’s the thing: It’s not the Wild West. In fact, health-related...