Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Just before Labor Day, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed false advertising charges against the marketers of “Your Baby Can Read!” The program, widely promoted via infomercials and the Internet, purports to use videos, flash cards and pop-up books to teach babies as young as 3 months old how to read. The complaint charges Your Baby, LLC, its former CEO, and the program’s creator, Dr. Robert Titzer, with false and deceptive advertising and deceptive expert endorsements. According to the complaint, the defendants failed to provide competent and reliable scientific evidence that babies can learn to read using the program, or that children at age 3 or 4 can learn to read books such as Charlotte’s Web or Harry Potter.
Continue Reading Sorry, Your Baby Can’t Read

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009, the revised “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” released by the Federal Trade Commission came into effect. John P. Feldman, an authority in these types of advertising regulations and compliance, put together some thoughts concerning the implications of these Guides upon coming into

As we’ve discussed previously on Adlaw by Request, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is in the process of revising its Endorsement and Testimonial Policies and Guidelines – the first set of revisions since 1980. In addition to compelling greater disclosure and substantiation on advertisers that wish to employ endorsements and testimonials in their advertising, the

Reed Smith Advertising, Technology & Media partners John P. Feldman and Anthony E. DiResta filed comments on March 2nd with the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the firm’s clients, Association of National Advertisers (.PDF) and Word of Mouth Marketing Association (.PDF), in response to the FTC’s request for comments regarding proposed revisions to its

This post was written by Dan Jaffe.

Last November, the Federal Trade Commission released a Federal Register notice detailing the changes that it plans to make to its guidelines for the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising.  These are the first changes to the guidelines in decades and will dramatically change how marketers