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.
Consumer not permitted to revoke consent given as part of a transaction
As we have discussed previously, the prevalence of Internet usage in everyday life has led to an e-commerce market whereby consumers are able to post online reviews of a vast range of products and services. For the most part, such reviews are made public without regard to the relevant expertise of the reviewers, and with little to no oversight as to the legitimacy of such reviews. You can see our prior articles on this topic here and here. Against this backdrop, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has brought a claim against a marketer for the deceptive use of fake, paid-for reviews on an independent retail website for the first time. The FTC’s enforcement efforts in this regard should signal to marketers that the FTC is taking such actions seriously.
The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) have issued joint warning letters focusing on disease claims being made by dietary supplement marketers. In addition, the FDA announced new steps it is undertaking with a goal toward protecting the public from potentially harmful products and unapproved claims.