Ad Claims Heightened Media Screening Essential – FTC’s Anthony
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
FTC efforts to encourage responsible review of advertising claims among media outlets have elicited, at best, a "lukewarm" response, Commissioner Sheila Anthony told the Food & Drug Law Institute annual educational conference April 16
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FTC efforts to encourage responsible review of advertising claims among media outlets have elicited, at best, a "lukewarm" response, Commissioner Sheila Anthony told the Food & Drug Law Institute annual educational conference April 16. "While many publications screen ads for taste and appropriateness, they have been reluctant to take a few extra steps to weed out obvious fraud," Anthony maintained. "Many egregious claims, particularly for weight-loss products, often appear in mainstream media." "National newspapers, magazines, television, cable and radio stations seem too ready to accept substantial advertising dollars of this industry without question, often airing patently fraudulent ads with claims of extreme, instant and effortless weight loss," she noted. Attempting to halt the trend, FTC staffers frequently have met with "various segments of the media and individual publishers to discuss the need for better advertising clearance standards to screen out... false ads," Anthony explained. In addition, the agency has pursued at least two initiatives aimed at alerting the media of deceptive advertising. FTC's "Ad Nauseam" campaign, launched in February 2000, identified several cases of fraudulent weight-loss ads and the media vehicles in which they ran, including magazines such as Cosmopolitan, McCall's, Redbook and Esquire, as well as local and national newspapers. "Staff sent the offending ads to each of these publications with a letter urging them to take greater responsibility and to question advertisers before accepting such ads," Anthony continued, noting "only USA Today provided any response." The commissioner also cited FTC's "Screening Advertising: A Guidebook for the Media," issued in 1998. The document provides tips to broadcasters and publishers on using buzz words and phrases to detect specious ads. A chapter focused on fraudulent health claims warns media to watch out for phrases such as "new scientific or medical breakthrough," "proven to provide immediate results" and "has doctors/researchers astounded." An adjacent section on weight-loss claims lists buzz words such as "eat your favorite foods and still lose weight," "absorbs fat" and "No diet! No exercise" as indicative of advertising fraud. "I believe the media has an exceptionally important role to play for...screening of problematic ads," Anthony stressed. Although she commended the efforts of the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in the self-regulation of supplement ads, the FTC commissioner suggested the group should establish a "specialized segment," much like the Children's Advertising Review Unit, to focus solely on dietary supplements. Anthony's praise for NAD, as well as her comments on the media's role in culling out fraudulent ads, echoes similar remarks by ABC Broadcast Standards VP Harvey Dzodin at a recent NAD health claims conference in New York (1 (Also see "Supplement Ad Substantiation Remains Problematic – ABC Exec" - Pink Sheet, 25 Mar, 2002.), p. 8). Unlike ABC, which has implemented extensive review policies for supplement ads, other media outlets are less scrupulous, Dzodin suggested, pointing to an "unlevel playing field" among media players. ABC's decisions to turn down unsubstantiated claims often can mean compromising shareholder return, the network exec commented. The need for broader liability among various parties involved in product advertising is becoming a popular topic at FTC. In addition to advertisers and ad agencies, FTC will hold "catalogue marketers, retailers, infomercial producers, TV home shopping companies as well as celebrity endorsers" liable for disseminating fraudulent ad claims, Anthony avers. FTC Senior Staff Attorney Michelle Rusk similarly emphasized the commission's plan to crack down on individuals making false or misleading statements in product testimonials at the recent NAD meeting (2 (Also see "Multi-Ingredient Testing, Testimonial Liability Among FTC Priorities" - Pink Sheet, 18 Mar, 2002.), p. 4). |