Presented by Michael B. Schiffer, counsel at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, on April 12, 2012 at "Social Media Dos & Don'ts: Legal Compliance You Will 'Like." Held at EisnerAmper and organized by the New York Technology Council.
www.nytech.org
Mathura Call Girls 8250077686 Service Offer VIP Hot Model
Social Media Dos & Don'ts: Endorsements
1. SOCIAL MEDIA LEGAL DO’S
& DON’TS - ENDORSEMENTS
Presented at NY Technology Council Event
April 12, 2012
Michael B. Schiffer
2. Section 5 of the FTC Act
• Prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or
practices”
3. The FTC Endorsement Guides
• Updated in 2009, in part,
to address new media
• Endorsements =
“Any advertising message . . .
that consumers are likely to believe represents the
opinions, beliefs, findings, or experiences of a
party other than the sponsoring advertiser . . .”
• Celebrity, expert or regular folks like us
• They are all about credibility
4. Endorsements –
Material Connections
• Connections between the endorser and the
advertiser, which might materially affect the
weight or credibility of the endorsement,
should be clearly and conspicuously disclosed
• Connections that are “not reasonably expected
by the audience”
• Does the consumer understand the relationship
between the endorser and the advertiser?
5. Old Media
Sony Pictures
• Sony employees, posing
as consumers, were
used to promote the
movie
• Not disclosed
• Consent decrees with
Connecticut and Oregon
(2002)
6. New York v. Lifestyle Lift
• NYAG alleged that
Lifestyle Lift
published anonymous
fake positive reviews
and created fake
consumer websites
• The reviews appeared
to be from actual
consumers
• Consent order with
$300k penalty (2009)
7. Email of the Day
To: Lazy Employee
From: Your Boss
_______________________________________
“Friday is going to be a slow day - I need you
to devote the day to doing more postings on
the web as a satisfied client.”
8. FTC v. Reverb
• FTC charges PR agency
with posing as ordinary
consumers and posting
reviews on the iTunes store
– “Amazing new game”
– “ONE of the BEST”
• Agency was hired by video
game developers
• FTC says that the agency
should have disclosed that it
was paid to post the reviews
• Consent order (2010)
9. FTC v. Ann Taylor
• “Exclusive blogger
preview” event for the
LOFT Summer 2010
Collection
• Offered gifts to bloggers
to attend
• Offered gift cards (worth
between $50-500) to all
bloggers who posted
content about the event
within 24 hours
11. ERSP v. HCG cont.
• ERSP also challenged
claims on what
appeared to be
independent social
media sites
• Posts linked to the HCG
website
• ERSP said that the
advertiser is responsible
for the false claims
12. “simply because the marketer did not know
about a consumer making a particular claim, it
is not somehow absolved from responsibility
about the accuracy of the claims”
-- ERSP
13. How to Disclose Connection:
• How do you effectively disclose the
connection in emerging media?
• Are the principles workable for text messages,
Twitter, etc.?
• Ad hoc disclosures
