Following Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day, the FTC announced an almost $10 million settlement with Google and iHeartMedia related to their allegedly deceptive past endorsements of Google’s Pixel 4 phone and released the Commission’s annual market concentration analysis of the ethanol production industry. These stories after the jump.Continue Reading FTC Updates (November 28 – December 2, 2022)
On May 20, 2022 the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) Commissioners unanimously approved a request for public comment on proposed updates to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (“Endorsement Guides” or “Guides”). In the draft revisions, released last week, the FTC seeks to update the Endorsement Guides and provide new examples that reflect advertisers’ growing reliance on social media advertising. The Endorsement Guides were last revised in 2009. See 16 CFR pt 255.
The Endorsement Guides require advertisers that feature endorsements made by endorsers with an unanticipated material connection to the advertiser—for example, monetary payment, a sweepstakes entry, or something else of value—to disclose that connection in the advertising. In addition, endorsements must be truthful and accurate, reflecting the endorser’s actual experience with the product. Marketers that fail to comply with the Endorsement Guides violate Section 5 of the FTC Act.Continue Reading FTC Issues Long-Awaited Updates to the Endorsement Guides
The FTC is closely watching influencers to remind them to clearly disclose material connections to brands. In June 2017, the Commission settled with a trampoline manufacturer for relying on misleading endorsements and, in March, the Commission sent more than 90 letters to influencers and brands to remind them to clearly disclose relationships. The FTC has now made clear that it will target influencers who fail to comply with its Endorsement Guides. While the FTC had previously settled claims against various advertising networks, advertising agencies, and brands for failing to comply with the Endorsement Guides, the FTC has announced that it has settled its first ever enforcement action against social media influencers. In the same press release, the FTC simultaneously stated that it sent follow-up warning letters to 21 influencers that first received letters in March.
The message is clear: influencers that fail to disclose a material connection to brands do so at their own peril—and brands are responsible for implementing clear measures to make sure that the influencers they work with comply with disclosure requirements. Furthermore, the FTC has also made clear that many commonly used disclosure methods and practices are inadequate in its newly revised Endorsement Guides FAQs. Brands and the influencers they work with should take note of these recommendations and ensure that their disclosure practices comply.