The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continues its oversight of charitable fundraising conduct. This month, the FTC issued guidance for both donors who donate to charities through online giving portals and businesses that offer such portals. The agency also warned consumers to be wary of potential charity scams in the wake of recent natural disasters that
The Federal Election Commission Proposes Rules for Online Political Advertising
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, asking for public comment on proposals for requiring “disclaimers” on online ads and fundraising. Under each of two similar proposals, paid Internet ads that expressly advocate for candidates or that solicit political donations must state who paid for the ad and whether it was authorized by a candidate. The rules would impact websites, blast emails, and ads paid for by a political committee, regardless of their content.
The FEC rulemaking responds to mounting concerns about the influence of Russian-linked social media activity during the 2016 presidential election, as well as years of ambiguity about when and how the agency’s rules apply to emerging platforms and technology.
These Six Letters Can Spell “Trouble” for Sweeps and Promotions
There are certain words and phrases that set the antennae of promotions lawyers – and law enforcers – buzzing. “Everybody wins” comes to mind right away – but there is one little word that can pay out tremendous legal problems and should concern anyone involved in executing sweepstakes and promotions. That word is “raffle.”
While many people use “raffle” interchangeably with “sweepstakes” or “drawing” to designate a legal game of chance that any entity can run, most raffles are illegal under federal and state gambling laws. Narrow exceptions exist for certain activities involving nonprofit organizations, such as charities, but those carve-outs and their accompanying requirements vary from state to state.
The chief problem with raffles is that they, by their nature, contain all three elements of an illegal lottery: (1) the award of a prize; (2) that is determined by chance; and (3) participants must submit consideration to enter.
Big Game Fun Includes Viking Disclaimers and Fake News
This may have been the first year we were more into the game than the ads as it was a well-matched nail biter right to the end, but this is advertising’s biggest night of the year as well as football’s and we were once again not disappointed. While views is likely the best measure of an ad’s success, here is the annual “All about Advertising Law Round Up”.
Our favorite campaign was the Australian Tourism ad featuring Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride. The campaign encouraged tourism under the rubric of filming of a Crocodile Dundee sequel. The movie has its own IMDb page and related Twitter hype. But there is no movie. It is all part of the tourism ad campaign. This is fake news without the political baggage, creating buzz and interest for the product offering. Well played!
Highlights of the FTC and NASCO Conference – Give & Take: Consumers, Contributions, and Charity
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO) hosted “Give & Take: Consumers, Contributions, and Charity,” a conference exploring consumer protection issues in the changing landscape of charitable giving. Day One of the conference kicked off with introductory remarks by Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Tom Pahl, as well as Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman (Day Two was not open to the public). Some of our readers may recognize General Coffman’s name because she was a panelist at Venable’s 2016 Advertising Law Symposium, where she also expressed her state’s strong interest in combatting charitable solicitation fraud. Government enforcers are clearly paying more attention to this industry, as we have written before.
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Annual Big Game Ad Review
It’s our favorite time of year, when we get to see the best, boldest, and bravest duke it out. Oh sure, there’s the football, but we’re talking about the ads! It’s one of the busiest nights of the year for ad lawyers, enjoying ads we worked on come to life (and seeing the disclaimers we lovingly and painstakingly crafted) and responding in real time to “can we tweet this?” We blog every year about our favorites (see here and here and here and here) and trends. We were happy with a game in overtime, as it meant – that’s right – MORE ADS! And we understand social media was up over last year but did not exceed 2015’s record numbers. But still, 27.6M tweets, 240M Facebook interactions, and 150M Instagram interactions is pretty big stuff.
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Don’t Let “Pink” Marketing Lead to Others Seeing Red
Among other things (National Pizza Month, anyone?), October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Washington Post recently published an interesting article about the connection between retail apparel marketing and breast cancer awareness efforts. The combination of the two – “pink marketing” – is as ubiquitous during the month of October as Halloween candy and pumpkin-spiced lattes.
Over time, cancer charities have sought to increase donor awareness of their mission and boost fundraising by partnering with for-profit corporations. This cause-related marketing can be mutually beneficial: the charity is helped by the company’s marketing budget and public relations heft, while the company enhances its goodwill with customers (indeed, some research supports the notion of a “halo effect” for retailers that consumers believe are socially conscious). Thus, we see successful partnerships like the one featured in the Washington Post article between the National Football League and the American Cancer Society, or relationships between World Wrestling Entertainment and Susan G. Komen. In October, hulking athletes incorporate pink into their uniforms and leap from pink wrestling ropes. Celebrities wear pink ribbons and retailers offer pink-colored versions of their products. Even the White House goes pink.