The Advertising Law Blog provides commentary and news on developing legal issues in advertising, promotional marketing, Internet, and privacy law. This blog is sponsored by the Advertising, Marketing & Promotions group at Olshan. The practice is geared to servicing the needs of the advertising, promotional marketing, and digital industries with a commitment to providing personal, efficient and effective legal service.
One billion spoofed calls touted short-term health insurance
Reckitt Benckiser agrees to pay $53 million to end class actions regarding dietary supplement pain relief claims.
Following the lead of California, Virginia is set to become the second U.S. state to enact comprehensive consumer privacy legislation. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is expected to sign the Consumer Data Protection Act (“CDPA”) into law, which will go into effect on January 1, 2023. As it may take businesses some time to make sure they are in compliance by the January 1, 2023 effective date, it is recommended that businesses review their current privacy practices and make any necessary changes.
Dark patterns, an increasingly popular ecommerce marketing technique, seek to encourage users to make a particular purchasing decision. They are also the subject of increasing regulatory scrutiny, including the FTC’s ABC Mouse enforcement action.
Andrew Lustigman, head of Olshan’s Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Practice Group, was interviewed on Round Table Group’s Engaging Experts podcast in an episode entitled “How to Effectively Deal With False Advertising Disputes.” The episode explores various options for responding to false advertising claims and examines the variety of directions a business can take regarding an advertising dispute. Topics include how lawsuits concerning false representations have been filed under the Lanham Act, the founding of the National Advertising Division (NAD), strategies in a well-constructed cease and desist letter, and more.
In this age of online advertising, independent reviews by customers have become a crucial marketing tool for many businesses. Having “5-star” customer reviews is worn like a badge of honor, and companies can boast of their high customer ratings in an effort to attract other customers who look to such reviews for confirmation of the reputation of a company or the high quality of its goods or services. Given the value of such reviews, customer reviews have become subject to falsification and manipulation by companies seeking to boost their ratings and attract other customers. Such actions, however, can result in liability for false advertising, and two recent cases highlight the serious liability a company that falsifies and manipulates reviews can suffer.
In a quintessential Covid-era case, following part of its routine monitoring program, the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (“NAD”) requested substantiation for claims made by Ontel Products Corporation in respect of its “Safe & Healthy” branded portable UV-C sanitizing light.
The change in the Presidential administrations also brings a change at the Commissioner and senior staffing levels at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as well as other agencies.
Olshan Advertising attorneys Andrew Lustigman, Scott Shaffer, Mary Grieco and Morgan Spina presented a webinar for the Consumer Protection Monthly Update hosted by the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section.
Olshan’s Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Practice Group chair Andrew Lustigman and associate Morgan Spina have authored an article published in NYSBA Inside entitled “Check Your Enrollment Path: New York Enacts Comprehensive Automatic Renewal Law.”