Overview
On June 29, 2023, the FTC announced its newly revised and long-awaited Endorsement Guides, which aim to update and clarify previous guidance regarding the use of endorsements and testimonials in light of market trends and the digital landscape. The Endorsement Guides, which have not been formally updated since 2009, reflect public comments received by the FTC since it first published its proposed updates in 2022, and include several departures from the agency’s first proposals that will change marketers’, agencies’ and influencers’ approach to endorsements going forward. Moreover, the FTC remains focused on obtaining civil monetary penalties through every avenue possible, and just a day after releasing the updated Endorsement Guides, proposed a new rule to combat misleading consumer review and testimonial practices.
Faculty will discuss the key proposed changes to be aware of, including:
- The FTC’s expansion of what it considers an “endorsement” - which now expressly includes the use of virtual influencers, tags and fictionalized reviews in social media; (15 minutes)
- What it really means to make a “clear and conspicuous” and adequate disclosure on social media – which may not be achieved by using a platform’s built-in disclosure tool -- along with key updated examples from the FTC’s FAQ Document: The FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking; (20 minutes)
- Child-directed advertising, which is now its own entirely new section of the Endorsement Guides (10 minutes).
- The FTC’s perspective on deceptive review practices, such as suppressing negative reviews or otherwise manipulating reviews to distort what consumers think of a product through boosting, upvoting, downvoting, editing, or other tactics; and an overview of its proposed rulemaking on consumer reviews (15 minutes)
Who Should Attend: In-house counsel, outside attorneys, compliance, and other allied professionals with practices in advertising law or at subscription-based companies
Program Level: Overview
Prerequisites: None
Advanced Preparation: None
Faculty:
Paavana L. Kumar
Davis+Gilbert LLP