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
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
More Perspective on the FTC’s Recently Updated Endorsement and Testimonials Guides
By Adam Snukal on
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…
FTC Releases Updated Guidance on Endorsements and Testimonials
By Adam Snukal on
An important and relevant topic that has been addressed through several articles on Adlaw by Request in the past is the FTC’s position and guidance on endorsements and testimonials in advertising. Moreover, in a digital, social media age where blogs, social networking sites and other real time digital tools have become commonplace for user and…
Bloggers Beware
By Adam Snukal on
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…
ANA and WOMMA File Comments with FTC Regarding Proposed Revisions to FTC Endorsement & Testimonial Guidelines
By Adam Snukal on
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…
FTC Endorsement & Testimonial Guidelines
By Adam Snukal on
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…
Testimonials and Endorsements: Complying with the FTC Guides in Light of Proposed Changes
By John P. Feldman on
This post was written by John P. Feldman and Anthony E. DiResta.
One of the most frequent strategies employed by advertisers is to let the consumer hear about the advertised product or service from a third party, someone other than the advertiser itself. At its root, an endorsement or testimonial when used in advertising is…