Category: Endorsement
Scoring A Touchdown With NIL Rights
“NIL” is short for “Name, Image, Likeness,” but for college athletes it may now mean “no income limits.” All three branches of government have essentially agreed that a college athlete could be paid for his/her NIL activities. However, what this means exactly is still far from clear. First, I...
New York AG Gives No Stars to Fake Online Reviews
On November 2, 2018, the New York Attorney General came crashing down on a number of moving services that paid for at least 60 fake positive online reviews posted under the heading "CHECK OUT OUR REVIEWS POSTED BY CUSTOMERS JUST LIKE YOU." As a result, the only checking being...
Does That Avatar Really Like That Brand? The FTC Endorsement Guidelines in the New Age of Virtual Influencers
Meet Lil' Miquela. She has 1.2 million Instagram followers: She's modeled such famous brands as Diesel, Versace, Fendi and Chanel. In March, she appeared in a fashion spread in V Magazine as "The Face of New Age Logomania." Last month she talked her audience through the latest GIF sets...
Take That Down: Recent Lawsuit on Negative Reviews
"Beer: The cause and solution to all of life's problems." Mr. Homer J. Simpson would love the recent case of a Massachusetts craft beer company that has been trying in federal court to get the employment website Glassdoor to turn the taps off and take down negative reviews about...
FTC 2017: Consumer Protection Year in Review (aka. If you do it, we'll catch you)
The FTC put out its consumer protection year in review providing a comprehensive list of significant consumer protection developments in 2017. Let us indulge you with a recap of a few illustrative actions affecting the promotion world. "Free" Samples In October 2017, the FTC charged A1 Janitorial Supply Corp...
2017: The Stories that Weren't, Taken from the Tales of the Twilight Zone
"It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is...
No Room at the Inn (For Bad Reviews)
It's story time here at youwmightbeawinner. Young Aaron from Portland, Maine writes, "Mr. Blogger, what do you have to say about the tale of the Innkeeper who had no room for guests writing bad reviews? " My child I'd say that this Innkeeper was living in Christmas Past where...
How About Some Updates?
You may or may not have heard of some recent developments in the promotion world. If you haven't, great, let me be the first to tell you. If you have, my update is better. Endorsements/Influencers Back in the 1940s, a sociologist named Paul Lazerfield introduced the psychology behind the...
Some Common Sweepstakes and Contests Questions Answered
Our teachers have told us that there's no such thing as a bad question. In that light, I've come up with 11 common (simple) questions about running a sweepstakes or contest. And to prove that there are no bad questions, I've also gone ahead and answered them. Enjoy! Social...
Hey That’s Me Drinking That Beer! UGC Rights at Issue in Beer/Photo Lawsuit
Kayla Kraft (no known relation to the cheese people) found herself on a Natural Light coaster with a fake handlebar mustache drinking a beer under the heading "Every Natty Has a Story." She apparently didn't like that story and just sued Anheuser-Busch , the makers of Natural Light beer...
Should Influencers Influence Cause Marketing?
To use or not to use a popular marketing tool? That is the question. Shakespeare, himself, opted for a popular marketing tool when he cast the famous tragedian, Richard Burbage, for the part of Hamlet. This was probably a good idea, since according to Wikipedia, the play "has been...
Will The Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 Affect Contests and Sweepstakes? (Hint: Yes)
On December 14, 2016, the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 was passed to try to put an end to companies taking down nasty reviews about their products. Congress's way of telling companies: if you ask for it, you're gonna get it. The new law – effective March 14...
Is It Really "The Best [Insert Product] You Ever Bought?" Amazon Limits Incentivized Reviews
When shopping online, we all want to know what lawnmower/backscratcher/egg timer is the best. Once we've found an array of options, many of us go right to the online reviews to see how others liked the product. Caveat emptor be damned, Ralph from Bensonhurst just loved the Handy Housewife...
There's No Such Thing as a "Free" Sample: FTC Provides Guidance on Advertising "Free" Samples Combined with Recurring Charges
On Tuesday (September 20, 2016), the FTC and Nutraclick entered into a consent order concerning Nutraclick's online offer for "free" samples of supplements and beauty products . The FTC alleged that Nutraclick failed to clearly disclose to people who requested the samples that they would be enrolled in a...
Court Says Too Bad to Bad Online Reviews
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal dismissed a lawsuit against Yelp! by a disgruntled business that received a one-star rating from a customer, upholding the protection provided to online providers under the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Douglas Kimzey, the owner of a locksmith business, received a review from...
Please Don't Endorse Our Product Anymore: The Morals Clause Edition
Unless you've Rip Van Winkled for the past month, lost your television/iPhone/iPad, or simply given up on international competitive athletics to instead focus on the Cubbies' chase for an elusive World Series Crown, you know that US Olympic Swimmer Ryan Lochte's "over exaggeration" will cost him over $1 million...
Pinterest Revises Promotion Guidelines
Recently and without fanfare, Pinterest revised its Promotion Guidelines in a few significant ways. The old Guidelines said you cannot "run a sweepstakes where each Pin, board, like, or follow represents an entry;" you cannot require people "to Pin from a selection;" and you cannot "require a minimum number...
Where'd You Get That Dress? FTC Dresses Down Lord & Taylor Native Advertising
This week the FTC settled charges against Lord & Taylor from alleged deceptive native advertising during its March 2015 Design Lab social media campaign. http://1.usa.gov/22h3sJ7 A big takeaway from this settlement is the FTC's position that a company not only has to comply with the Native Advertising/Endorsement disclosures on...
Did Peyton Manning Go One Pitch Too Far? (Native Advertising at the Super Bowl)
We all know Peyton Manning – he's a professional pitcher: for Papa Johns, DirecTV, Buick, and Gatorade, among others. He's also a professional quarterback. But did his post-Super Bowl pitches for Budweiser and Papa John's go too far. As you may recall loyal followers of this blog, I wrote...
I Said Your Product was Great, Now Gimme a Prize: The FTC Enforces Its Endorsement Guidelines
Yesterday, the FTC settled a deceptive advertising lawsuit against the creators and marketers of the Lumosity "brain training" program . For those of you not smart enough to know, the "brain training" program claimed to not only boost your performance at work or school, but also slow down those...
10 Things You May Not Have Known About Promotion Marketing
Practically every type of promotional activity is regulated in some way: Sweepstakes and contests User generated content on websites and social media; Coupons, gift cards and money-back guarantees; Charitable solicitations; Celebrity endorsements or other testimonials; Marketing to children; and Even trying to give something away for "free" 2. You...
