Deceptive Advertising and the Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission, a government-sanctioned agency with the mission and power to protect consumers from unfair business practices, have created the standards and regulations for deceptive advertising (Federal Trade Commission[FTC], 2007). Deceptive advertising has been ruled by the FTC (1983) to be: “a representation, omission or practice that is likely to mislead the consumer acting reasonably in the circumstances, to the consumer 's detriment” (para. 8). This statement has been reprinted by Zelezny, attorney and senior public relations executive, in his textbook, Communications Law: Liberties, Restraints, and the Modern Media (Zelezny, 2011, p. 507). The purpose of this paper …show more content…
The FTC is run by five commissioners appointed by the president, allowing only a simple majority of a political party. During the 1960’s the agency desperately needed reform- the America Bar Association concluded drastic changes were necessary (Zelezny, 2011). The Chicago Law review reiterated this need (Posner, 1969). President Nixon then signed the Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, giving the commission power to sue in the federal court system on behalf of consumers (Zelezny, 2011). Interestingly enough, the FTC currently has three vacant commissioner seats. Maureen Ohlhausen, chairman, and Terrell McSweeny are the only two current commissioners (FTC 2017). Deceptive commercial speech has never been granted First Amendment protection. During the landmark case of Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., the court granted first amendment protection to commercial speech in fulfilling public interest. However, the court provided no initiative to change the unprotected status of deceptive commercial speech (Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748 (1976); Zelezny, 2011). This form of speech has been ruled illegal in every federal jurisdiction (Zelezny, …show more content…
v. FTC (Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. F. T. C., 481 F.2d 246 (6th Cir. 1973); Zelezny, 2011). According to this case Firestone made a claim that Wide Oval tires stop 25 percent quicker. This statement, made without reasonable evidence, was published in a nationwide magazine. Firestone based the entire ad off the sole support of one limited experiment. Stating that the claim implies the tires rune 25% faster under all other weather conditions and tires, the commission found the evidence unjustified. To make matters worse for Firestone, the commission considered this a safety claim. This would be a hazardous experiment for consumers to test. Under these circumstances, the FTC desires scientific evidence (481 F.2d 246). The Sixth Circuit Court sided with the commission, stating the ad did imply scientific testing relating to the safety and performance of these circumstances. The cease and desist order, requiring proficient experimentation before making a scientific claim, was enforced on Firestone (481 F.2d 246). To further support the prior substantiation doctrine, the court sided with its enforcement (481 F.2d 246; Zelezny,
Also told the judge, the defense 's argument is not newly discovered evidence and the defense knew of this expert during trial. "There 's nothing new for counsel at the time of trial. As far as presentation at trial, the fact that is may have surprised defense counsel, I think they had time prior to trial to get their expert around. I think they were more so upset because we had the better expert," said Rider-Ulacco. Judge Peter Bradstreet denied the defense request for a new trial.
The Federal Trade Commission began in 1915 and is a commission made up of five appointed commissioners - three of which is of one political party and the other two, another. These commissioners serve a term of seven years with the FDC. The role of the FDC is to uphold the lawful methods of commerce between businesses/corporations and organizations and to investigate any unfair methods of competition leading up to court
Derek I Snedden POLS-Y 353 Professor Fowler 20 July 2015 Eagle Forum: The Pro-family movement The Eagle forum was founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972 and began as a trust fund to defend conservative agendas in 1967. During the proposal of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, Schlafly founded a group with more proactive approach called “Stop ERA” with one goal in mind, to defeat the ratification of ERA. After the success of the “Stop ERA” campaign, Phyllis Schlafly founded the eagle forum, a pro family group dedicated to “opposing all encroachments against American sovereignty through…feminist goals” (Schlafly). Althoug the primary interaction that eagle forum has had with the womens movement was the ERA, they also are incessantly combating
The Federal Trade Commission introduced new guidelines to ensure bloggers and advertisers would be honest while advertising. The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for making sure the advertising that’s shown is the truth and not deceiving consumers. In addition, Federal Trade Commission is also responsible for enforcing rules and regulations. “In October 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its new “Guide Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” marketing its first regulatory update since 1980” (Hill, McGraw p.173, 2016).
“At least 42 terrorist attacks aimed at the United States have been thwarted since 9/11” (Reality). The majority of people know about the tragedy that happened on September 11th, 2001, but not that many people know about what came to be after the event; the Patriot Act. This act is the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001” (Miller). The Patriot Act got put in place by the President and almost got a unanimous vote to pass it nearly ten days after. It was later used to take down many of the 42 attack plots.
The case that I will be talking about today is the case of POM Wonderful LLC vs Coca-Cola Company in which POM Wonderful felt that Coca-Cola was using false advertising to promote its own drink to sell to customers. POM Wonderful makes its own fruits to be used in their fruit chooses and they sell a drink that is made of 100 percent fruit juices with 85 percent being pomegranate juice and the other 15 percent blueberry juice. Coca-Cola also make a juice drink through the Minute Maid division of their company with the label saying pomegranate blueberry in giant letters. The Coca-Cola juice is made with only 0.3 percent of pomegranate juice and 0.2 percent of blueberry juice along with 0.1 percent of raspberry juice and 99.4 percent of a combination of apple and grape juices. The focus of the complaint was that the Coca-Cola juice label had the words pomegranate and blueberry in all capital letters and then underneath that the words got smaller and explained that it was a “flavored blend of 5 juices” and that it was made “from concentrate with added ingredients” (Cheeseman).
Summary of the Article Some of the author’s major points are
The FCC is a government agency that regulates the radio, television and phone industries. The Federal Communication Commission regulates interstate communication for instance wire, satellite and cable, and international communication. The FCC originated from The Communication Act of 1934, which abolished the Federal radio commission. The Communication Act of 1934 was the barrier for all the communications rules in place today. This act expanded on the authority of the FCC to regulate public airwaves in the United Stated.
Advertisers create false realities and exaggerate the abilities of their products in order to attract
Name: Patel Mukeshkumar Paper # JANET M. TURNER, Appellant v. HERSHEY CHOCOLATE USA Word Count: _______ I. Citation: Turner v. Hershey Chocolate USA, 440 F.3d 604 [3d Cir. 2006] II. Issue and Rule: The district court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s disability claim. The appellant’s essential accommodation claim went to trial, but court excluded evidence regarding disability.
People have the tendency to take the First Amendment for granted, but some tend to use it to their favor. Stanley Fish presents his main argument about how people misuse this amendment for all their conflicts involving from racial issues to current political affairs in his article, Free-Speech Follies. His article involves those who misinterpret the First Amendment as their own works or constantly use it as an excuse to express their attitudes and desires about a certain subject matter. He expresses his personal opinions against those who consistently use the First Amendment as a weapon to defend themselves from harm of criticism.
Under the modified Daubert standard, relevant scientific evidence is only admissible if it is centered upon testable hypotheses, conforms with the standard rate of potential errors, has been peer reviewed, and if the method is generally accepted in the scientific community (Hoog, 2008). However, there are three problems with the application of the Daubert standard. Firstly, David E. Bernstein and Jeffrey D. Jackson (2004) proved that there was no uniformity in the application of the standard in the sense that it’s only abided with in a portion of the states, and not necessarily with full adherence. Secondly, since the judge is not a scientist, it is difficult for him/her to, without doubt, determine the full honesty of the experts’ testimonies. An example from the Willingham case would be the two medical experts asserting that he was a sociopath although one was an irrelevant family counselor and the other, known as “Dr. Death” and later expelled from the American Psychiatric Association for ethical violations, had not even spoken to Todd Willingham.
Advertisements are everywhere, on television, radio, social media, billboards, magazines, and even on yearbooks. On the other hand, would it not be nice if every advertisement an individual saw, read, or heard were actually true? Like using Axe body spray really did attract women or eating Snickers truly made one satisfied in seconds? Yet, most of the time the advertisements that seem too good to be true, actually are. In fact, countless of ads are only slightly true and instead filled with many common errors in reasoning, known as logical fallacies, a sneaky marketing technique companies utilize to trick a consumer into giving them their undivided attention and money.
Introduction “The term ‘misleading advertisements, is an unlawful action taken by an advertiser, producer, dealer or manufacturer of a specific good or service to erroneously promote their product. Misleading advertising targets to convince customers into buying a product through the conveyance of deceiving or misleading articulations and statements. Misleading advertising is regarded as illegal in the United States and many other countries because the customer is given the indisputable and natural right to be aware and know of what product or service they are buying. As an outcome of this privilege, the consumer base is honored ‘truth in labeling’, which is an exact and reasonable conveyance of essential data to a forthcoming customer.”