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Lawsuit Questions Use of Carbon Offsets to Substantiate Green Claims

Plaintiffs recently filed a class action lawsuit against Delta, alleging that the airline’s “carbon-neutral” claims, such as: “Carbon Neutral Since March 2020,” and “travel confidently knowing that we will offset the carbon...more

NAD Takes Strict Position on Employee “Endorsements”

In 2019, the FTC announced a settlement with a retailer over allegations that it had encouraged employees to write favorable reviews of its products without disclosing they worked for the company. Most observers weren’t...more

6/8/2023  /  Advertising , Endorsements , Influencers , NAD

NAD Addresses Hyperlinked Disclosures

When a disclosure is necessary to prevent an ad from being misleading, the disclosure must be presented in a “clear and conspicuous” manner. Exactly what that means depends a lot on the context, but one question we get...more

Talking Trash at the FTC: Event Recap

This week, the FTC held its Talking Trash at the FTC workshop, a four-hour event intended to examine “recyclable” claims in ads. We’ve sifted through some of the trash and pulled out a few things worth noting....more

H&M Wins Dismissal in Greenwashing Suit

Abraham Lizama purchased a turquoise sweater from H&M’s “Conscious Choice” collection, a line of clothing “created with a little extra consideration for the planet” which generally include “at least 50% of more sustainable...more

Google to Pay $8 M to Settle with Texas Over DJ Endorsements

In January 2022, the Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Google alleging that the company engaged iHeartMedia DJs to provide endorsements for its Pixel 4 phone, even though they had never used it. In November 2022,...more

Retailer to Pay $197 Million to Settle Pricing Claims

Over the past few weeks, we’ve posted about a few cases involving pricing claims, including a post discussing a lawsuit over a grocer’s BOGO offers, a post discussing a lawsuit over major retailer’s frequent sales, and a post...more

5/15/2023  /  Advertising , Marketing , Pricing , Retailers

Advertising Lessons from the Survival Industry

My Patriot Supply (or “MPS”) and 4Patriots both make long-term survival food kits and related products. If a natural disaster strikes, if AI-powered bots wreak havoc on humanity, or if you just want to binge-watch your...more

5/11/2023  /  Advertising , Made in the USA , Marketing , NAD

Promotions Lessons from the My Pillow Guy

Mike Lindell – the “My Pillow Guy” – makes pillows that are soft to touch and claims that are hard to prove. In 2021, Lindell announced that he had compiled evidence demonstrating that China had interfered in the 2020...more

Lawsuit Accuses Old Navy of Creating False Sense of Urgency

Last week, two Washington consumers filed a proposed class action lawsuit accusing Old Navy of spamming them with emails that included false or misleading information about the duration of sales. For example, the complaint...more

NAD Eyes Affiliate Marketing

NAD recently announced two decisions involving Biossance’s Squalane & Marine Algae Eye Cream. Neither of the decisions involved claims made by the company itself, though. Instead, the decisions involved mentions of the eye...more

4/20/2023  /  Advertising , Marketing , NAD , Sephora

Safeway Faces Class Action Over BOGO Offers

Following the Supreme Court's 2021 decision striking down the FTC's practice of using FTC Act Section 13(b) to obtain monetary redress in AMG Capital Mgmt., LLC v. FTC, 141 S. Ct. 1341 (2021), the FTC has been exploring...more

Mars Sues Agency Over Breach of Exclusivity Provisions

Negotiating exclusivity provisions in agency agreements can often be difficult. Companies want to broadly prevent agencies from working for competitors, while agencies are reluctant to cut off other sources of work. In most...more

Best Guesses for “Best” Claims

If you want to advertise that something is the “best,” do you need substantiation? Or can you rely on a puffery argument? Although the answer depends on context, one paragraph in a recent NAD decision seems to conflict with...more

3/29/2023  /  Advertising , Marketing , NAD , Puffery

NARB Recommends Better Distinction Between Current Achievements and Future Goals

Last year, we wrote about a challenge that NAD had initiated against various green claims made by the American Beverage Association (or “ABA”). NAD found that several of ABA’s claims – including claims that “our bottles are...more

3/20/2023  /  Advertising , Environmental Claims , NAD , NARB

NAD Explores When Companies can be Responsible for Third-Party Reviews

If a third-party writes a good review of your product – or, even better, rates it as one of the best – can you link to that review? A new NAD decisions suggests that the answer may not be as easy as people think....more

3/16/2023  /  Advertising , Marketing , NAD , Online Reviews

NAD Finds Dark Patterns in a Rewards Program

For $9.99 per month, Pier 1 offers Pier 1 Rewards, a loyalty program that includes benefits such as a 10% discount on all purchases and free shipping and returns on eligible items. Until recently, when a consumer added an...more

FTC Reminds Advertisers to Keep AI Claims in Check

A recent post on the FTC’s Business Blog notes that although there may be disagreement about what “artificial intelligence” or “AI” is, those terms are being used in marketing campaigns, and the FTC worries that some...more

NY Attorney General Proposes Price Gouging Rules

Last week, as severe weather hit the country, price gouging laws were triggered ranging as far as California to Kentucky. And as we’ve previously reported, complying with the varied state price gouging laws can be tricky,...more

NAD Pours Water on Puffery Arguments

Molson Coors ran a series of ads in which athletes celebrated the completion of a difficult workout by opening a can labeled “Extremely Light Beer” and pouring the liquid over their heads. An announcer says: “Light beer...more

NAD Finds Advertiser Can’t Support Aspirational Net Zero Claims

If you tell your friends about your new year’s resolutions, odds are that most of those friends won’t push you for too much detail on how you plan to achieve your goals. But if those friends work at NAD, you might expect some...more

2/20/2023  /  Advertising , Marketing , NAD , Net Zero

FTC and State AGs Can Continue Joint Case Over Fake Reviews

Fake reviews continue to be a hot topic in consumer protection. In 2022, we reported that six states and the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Roomster – a platform through which people can find rooms and...more

Influencer’s Long Lashes Could Raise Ad Law Issues

Mikayla Nogueira is a 24-year-old beauty influencer with over 14 million followers on TikTok. At last count, that’s more than the number of followers we have at Ad Law Access, so she must be doing something right. (Or perhaps...more

FTC Challenges Half-Baked “Made in USA” Claims

Instant Brands advertises that its Pyrex glass products are “Proudly Made in USA” and as “American as Apple Pie.” For many years, it appears that Instant Brands’ claims complied with the requirements set forth in FTC’s Made...more

New California Law Governing Commercial Co-Ventures Now (Partly) In Effect

Consumers increasingly want to feel good about their buying decisions and like-minded companies often look for ways to communicate how they align with consumers through “cause marketing” campaigns. One popular type of...more

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