I'm not sure which area of government has responsibility for oversight of advertising claims (Department of Consumer Protection inside the FTC?), but I have a suggestion for them. It should be a requirement that, if you state a value for some product or service in an advertisement, that value must represent the average actual money paid by independent consumers [recently] for that product or service.
So for example, if you are currently advertising $100 of free merchandise, but the average amount you actually sell that merchandise for (including all the samples given away for free in the average) is $2, then you're guilty of fraud, and susceptible to large fines. There can of course be some leeway for approximations (I'd say anything within 10% of actual value, above or below, would be fine), but if we're policing false advertising, it's absurd that something be advertised as a $X value, where X is ridiculously higher than anyone would ever pay for it.
(Looking a pretty much everyone here, but looking extra-intently at mostly-online multi-level marketing schemes selling novelty trinkets of arbitrary value, for example...)
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
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