The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is underway, and companies and organizations around the world are analyzing its effects on how they collect, use, store and disclose data. U.S.-based sponsors of sweepstakes, contests, instant win games and other promotions opening entry to or targeting Europeans need to be mindful of the GDPR rules

In June, we covered Daily Fantasy Sports (“DFS”) operators’ major legislative victory in New York: a bill legalizing and regulating their business, ending the potential for an outright prohibition on DFS in the state. That bill’s passage was akin to clinching the pennant.

With the New York Attorney General (“NYAG”) announcing yesterday that it settled

Last week, Pinterest updated its Acceptable Use Policy, which governs its policies for conducting a contest and sweepstakes. Pinterest policy previously:

  • Prohibited brands from running a sweepstakes where each Pin, board, like, or follow represents an entry;
  • Prohibited brands from requiring entrants to Pin from a selection; or
  • Prohibited brands from requiring a minimum number

It’s not every day that one gets to observe a non-U.S. jurisdiction abandoning frustrating, idiosyncratic requirements on sweepstakes promotions, but – sacré bleu! – we’ve got one to report.

For several years, international marketers have listed France among the jurisdictions included in their international sweepstakes and chance-based promotional games by conforming to certain unique French

On May 1, 2015, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) released a set of amended Sales Promotional Rules contained in Section 8 of the CAP Code.  This follows a public consultation aimed at amending a number of rules to bring them up to date with the current consumer protection landscape.  For a list of key

The power of user-generated content (“UGC”) as a promotional tool is ubiquitous and well understood; however, global marketers face challenges when trying to approach a campaign from an international perspective.  A recent development concerning UGC contests in Italy has caught the attention of global marketers.

A UGC contest usually involves a promotional prize event where

A recent Facebook Platform Policy change may affect the way many promotions are run on Facebook. The change, effective November 5, 2014, prohibits Facebook Page owners from requiring a user to “like” their Page in order to access content, such as entry into a contest or sweepstakes, via a Facebook application (“App”). Advertisers often use this technique, known as “like-gating,” as a way to increase the amount of likes their Pages receive.

Facebook believes that a prohibition on like-gating will benefit both advertisers and consumers. In announcing the change, Facebook stated in a blog post: “[T]o ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives.”

A like can be valuable to an advertiser, regardless of whether it is generated organically or artificially. When a user likes a Facebook Page, the like may appear on the user’s Timeline, stories from the Page may show up on the user’s news feeds, and users may also appear in advertisements for that Page.
Continue Reading But I Thought They Really Liked Me! Facebook’s Prohibition on Like-Gating Apps

We wanted to share the following best practice tip with our readers who conduct sweepstakes, contests, and other prize-based promotions: When conducting such promotions, we always recommend that our clients have the potential winners execute and return a set of verification documents before confirming them as winners. Generally, this involves having the winner sign an affidavit and release form confirming their eligibility, compliance with the official rules of the promotion, and releasing the sponsor (and their agencies and parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates) from any liability that may arise in connection with the promotion. In addition, if you need to conduct a background check on the potential winners before issuing a prize to them, you should have them complete a form authorizing you (and/or your agencies) to do so prior to obtaining any consumer reports from a consumer reporting agency. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consumer reporting agencies may only issue consumer reports with a consumer’s consent, or for one of the other delineated permissible purposes. Obtaining a properly executed authorization will not only allow you to conduct your background check more seamlessly, but it will also help to reduce the risk in playing part to a potential FCRA violation, which can result in high statutory penalties.
Continue Reading Get Your Docs in a Row: A Practice Tip for Promotions

The FDA recently issued a warning to a Swiss drug company for failing to include on its Facebook page a product’s risk information and limitations. Although this type of enforcement activity involving drugmaker conduct on social media has been rather uncommon, it is a stern reminder for companies that the FDA is monitoring activity, and that its marketing and advertising rules apply to product promotion over social media networks as well. For additional information on this story, read the latest post on our firm’s Life Sciences Legal Update blog.
Continue Reading FDA to Drug Companies: We Are Watching – Even on Social Media

We invite you to participate in a webinar hosted by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) along with Timothy J. Nagle and Christine Nielsen Czuprynski of Reed Smith’s Data Security, Privacy & Management Group, titled Navigating the TCPA Minefield, on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 at 1 p.m. EST. The session will provide participants a valuable update on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and what marketers need to know when distributing text message promotions.

Among the topics that will be discussed are:

– The current state of the TCPA
– Recommendations for conducting compliant text messaging campaigns
– Best practices for avoiding class action scrutiny

This session is part of a new webinar series hosted by the ANA’s Government Relations group, focusing on current legal and regulatory issues affecting the marketing and advertising community. For additional information, visit the ANA Webinars page at http://www.ana.net/webinars/index.
Continue Reading ANA and Reed Smith Offering TCPA Webinar Next Week