Feds Push More Truth in Advertising

In order to settle FTC's false advertising complaint

(NEWSER) - Reebok has agreed to dole out up to $25 million in refunds for people who bought its EasyTone and RunTone shoes, in the mistaken belief that they’d actually help them tone their lower body as advertised. The move settles an FTC complaint that Reebok’s various claims about the shoe’s benefits—like that it would lead to 11% greater strength in hamstring muscles—weren’t backed up by science, the Chicago Tribune reports. More»

FTC trying to end marketing of junk food to kids

(NEWSER) - The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a new set of food advertising guidelines that could leave Ronald McDonald hanging out with Joe Camel in the unemployment line. The new guidelines aim to stop companies from marketing products that are high in sugar, fat, or salt to children, forbidding everything from cartoon pitchmen to online games, the New York Times reports. More»

POM's deceitful peers include mouthwash, Airborne

(NEWSER) - POM Wonderful pomegranate juice is the latest product to find itself in hot water over its health claims, but it's far from alone. The Week lists 5 other exaggerators:

1. Mouthwash: Johnson and Johnson, CVS, and Walgreens all received reprimands from the FDA last week over unsubstantiated claims that their mouthwash brands could prevent gum disease.
2. Airborne: The cold remedy ("invented by a teacher!") settled a $23.3 million lawsuit rather than attempt to prove in court that it could cure the common cold

POM launches racy ads even as FTC bears down

(NEWSER) - The makers of POM Wonderful aren't letting an FTC complaint against their health claims slow down the marketing of their pomegranate juice one bit, USA Today reports. POM is now making bold claims in that other advertising standby: sex. In a series of steamy new ads, POM presents the pomegranate as temptation embodied both in ancient Greece and the Garden of Eden. More»

Do you know when you're being sold something?

(NEWSER) - You can tell when you’re watching a commercial, right? Not at all, writes NE Marsden , and that’s a huge problem. A new FTC measure seeks to expose the practice of paid consideration—“stealth advertising” is a better phrase—online by requiring bloggers and marketers to disclose remuneration, but that hasn’t worked too well on TV. You didn’t know producers have to disclose product placement on TV? Exactly. More»