False Advertising Lawsuit: Three Rules for BusinessesA new product doesn’t gain the favor of consumers as soon as it enters the market. That’s why many people in business use advertising as a vehicle to move forward the image of an organization or a product.
Increasing brand recognition has always remained the primary purpose of brand advertising. It is used to inform, persuade, and remind customers about a particular product or service. Still, some unscrupulous advertisers and people in business who are new to this product promotion game try to reframe the language of advertising claims. They don’t even get to know when their wild advertising claims cross a line from being mere “puffery” to implicitly “misleading.”
Every company tries to stretch the truth to maximize product impact and survive market challenges. In advertising, there is a fine line between stretching the truth and pushing the fact off a cliff, and the latter has significant consequences from a legal viewpoint.
Dozens of industry giants, including Red Bull, Listerine, Volkswagen, Airborne, and Kellogg’s crossed a line into an unlawful territory and dealt with negative publicity. However, smaller companies can go bankrupt due to false advertising claims. So, how are you going to protect yourself from a false advertising lawsuit? Read on to know some tips and tricks to keep your ads within safe and legal limits.
- Have as many eyes on ad headline as possible: Having a headline that makes a false claim is one of the easiest ways to get into trouble. Put yourself in the shoes of the consumers and try to read product ad headlines from their perspective.
- Make product quality expectations clear: Setting false product claims such as “scientifically-proven” and “guaranteed results” is a great way to go bankrupt or end up in court. A good example of this is Listerine. Listerine, a mouthwash giant, declared itself a cure-all for cold ailments in 1921. The company was ordered to pay 10 million dollars by the Federal Trade Commission.
- Use Terms of Service and disclaimers: You are off the hook from all liability when you make a claim with a disclaimer attached. Pick any product from a supermarket, and you are sure to find a legal statement of some kind on its package.
Did you know that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the primary federal agency established to prevent unfair business practices and prohibit companies from using misleading advertising, relies mainly on consumers to report unlawful advertising? If your ad is deceptive and misleads consumers, you’ll face a false advertising lawsuit even if your intentions are pure. In the advertising world, your preferences don’t matter, but your honesty does.
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