If you’ve ever hired an attorney, you know they work by the hour and sometimes the answers can be long-winded. Once you get an answer it can be tied with riddles,or just a theory, therefore; sometimes it can just be unusable. Despite anything, you’re going to be doing digital advertising; whether it would be banner ads, PR Releases, SEO, PPC, etc. you need to know what laws apply , how they apply and how the work on behalf of your company.
Here’s four issues you need to be familiar with before engaging with digital advertising.
You should be careful with discounts and freebies that are permanent
If your going to be giving away freebies,and add-ons to a potential customer for incentive to buy a product. It needs to comply with FTC standards. Rather, “Free” offers must be “special and meaningful” to the FTC, which means freebies can always be offered as a permanent part of the offer. Which means freebies can’t be offered as a permanent part of the offer. Specifically, if you offer something for free, it can’t have it going for more than 6 months in a row, then 30 days must pass before giving the same offer again.
Misleading statements are not okay
Misleading statements are not okay. Saying things such as “best customer service.” isn’t a verifiable face, even if it’s probably not true, this falls under “legal puffery”. Things like saying you’re company is the greatest or the best is just, puffing. Puffing isn’t regarded as legally misleading unless you claim that some authority supports the statement, which actually isn’t true.
Enforcement of violations is limited
“Lose 10 pounds in one week!” “Get more muscles instantly like the pros!” We’ve all seen TV, print, and online advertising touting results that anybody with common sense knows can’t actually be true. So, how do they get away with it? The answer is that these are usually illegal, but enforcement is spotty. The primary law governing false advertising is the Lanham Act. To bring a lawsuit under the act you need: (1) to be a competitor, (2) for the ad to be done in a commercial setting, (3) contain a false or misleading statement, description or representation, and (4) the misleading portion must be material to the customer’s buying decision. The important things to note here are that the lawsuit can only be brought by a competitor and that the misleading part must be proved to be a significant part of the consumer’s buying decision.
These are just a few of the things your lawyer may have not told you about your digital advertising. When you go to look at what you are doing again, make sure you are in the legal guidelines when advertising to your audience.
