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How Much Toilet Paper Must Be 'Left Behind' on a Cartoon Bear's Butt and Other Key Advertising Rules

By Bruce Carton

Advertising Age has an interesting article here (via Consumerist) describing how advertising "law" is created, in part, by decisions of the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, a self-regulating body established in 1971 to deal with false or misleading advertising claims. The NAD handled over a hundred cases last year, some following complaints by competitors and others on its own initiative. Ad Age says that more than 90 percent of advertisers comply with NAD decisions because failure to do so can result in government action. Through its cases, the NAD has established a number of key rules. Here are some of the more interesting ones: "Re-enactments" must depict real performance. In a 1997 case involving window manufacturer Andersen Corp., the NAD ruled that re-enactments of extraordinary consumer experiences may be dramatized, but still must accurately portray how the product performed under the circumstances. So, Ad Age summarizes, "your re-enactment can still misrepresent the hotness of the housewife in the scenario, just not the product she uses." Puffery. Subjective "puffery" ("we're the best!") need not be proven, but factual claims must be substantiated. For example, Yahoo Personals' claim of "Better First Dates" was deemed puffery but an...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on March 10, 2011 (boomark / email).