FTC, St. Louis Better Business Bureau to Sponsor Advertising Workshop

A one-day “back to basics” workshop on complying with truth-in-advertising laws is being presented on Thursday, May 31, 2007, by the Federal Trade Commission’s Midwest Region and the St. Louis Better Business Bureau. Green Lights & Red Flags: FTC Rules of the Road for Advertisers features a roster of national experts discussing the latest developments in advertising law for attorneys, business owners, and marketing executives. The workshop is presented in cooperation with AdClub St. Louis; the Missouri Retailers Association; the Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Section of the Bar Association of St. Louis; the St. Louis Chapter of the American Marketing Association; and the St. Louis Auto Dealers Association.

Topics to be examined at the workshop include:

• FTC Advertising Law: Understanding the Rules of the Road – The FTC’s approach to ad claims, disclosures, and substantiation;
• Avoiding a Promotion Commotion – Complying with new laws for commercial e-mail, telemarketing, and other promotional practices;
• The Secure Entrepreneur – Best practices to avoid, assess, and address a data- security breach;
• “Hot Button” Law Enforcement Issues – Consumer protection priorities for the Missouri Attorney General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office;
• Keeping Your Client Compliant – A pre-dissemination checklist for advertisers; and
• When Your Competitor Crosses the Line: Self-regulation or Litigation? – Weighing the legal options when a competitor’s ads are deceptive
  

Green Lights & Red Flags will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 7750 Carondelet Avenue, in Clayton, Missouri, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The admission fee of $65 ($55 for BBB members) includes continental breakfast, lunch, and a CD of all workshop materials. Green Lights & Red Flags has been approved for 6.00 Missouri CLE credit hours. To register, visit www.ftc.gov/greenlights or call the St. Louis Better Business Bureau at 314-584-6737.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.