Defining False Or Deceptive Advertising

False or deceptive advertising is another legal consideration in brand management.

Advertising is considered to be false or misleading if it could mislead consumers about a product’s place of origin, nature, quality, or maker.  (It is not necessary to prove actual deception.)  Advertisers must be accurate about material aspects of their products or services and those of their competitors (in comparative advertising) to avoid prosecution. The Federal Trade Commission looks for the following when investigating complaints:

•    What are the expressed or implied claims?  What was said and what was not said?
•    Are the claims material?  That is, do they say something about the product’s functions, features, performance, effectiveness, maker, price, safety, etc.?
•    Does the advertiser have evidence to support the claims?
•    Could the ad as a whole mislead a consumer acting reasonably under the circumstances?

Note that claims such as “best in the world” or “the world’s leader” are considered to be puffery (not false advertising) and the average consumer is believed to process such claims with some degree of skepticism.

False advertising claims can be brought before the following entities for resolution:

•    the organization against which the claim is made
•    state or local consumer protection offices
•    the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau
•    the Federal Trade Commission
•    industry self-regulating bodies
•    advertising regulatory bodies

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