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.
NAD has been at the forefront of scrutinizing social media content for compliance with applicable advertising standards. Its recent decisions challenging Fit Tea’s social media advertising, including bringing a proceeding against three of the Kardashians, exemplifies the reality that both brands and influencers are potential liable for improper claims.
While the FTC’s Mail Order Sales Rule pre-dates the Internet by decades, the Rule remains relevant with today’s online marketing practices, particularly for pre-orders. Companies that rely on pre-orders for a concept product need to take careful note of recent action filed by the San Francisco District Attorney against Lily Robotics, Inc. for false advertising and unfair business practices. After acquiring tens of millions of dollars’ worth of capital investment and pre-order revenue for a conceptual drone, the company repeatedly delayed release of the product in 2015 and 2016, and has since failed to produce a saleable product.