Tag Archives: Advertising

FTC Updates Advertising Guides and Increases Scrutiny

On June 29th, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released updated rules to combat deceptive advertisements and endorsements. Along with new endorsement guidelines and answers to FAQs, these new rules mark a potential new era of FTC enforcement for advertisers who participate in online marketing.   There have been huge shifts in the social media advertising landscape … Continue Reading

Offense Not Limited to the Field: The NFL’s Aggressive Push To Protect Its Trademarks

It’s that time of year again when the biggest event in professional football triggers all sorts of questions from broadcasters and advertisers about how that event may be mentioned in broadcast programming.  You guessed it:  I’m talking about the Super Bowl. Most people have undoubtedly heard the Super Bowl referred to as “the Big Game” … Continue Reading

FCC to Stations: Giving Away Spots Doesn’t Necessarily Have to Cost You When Candidates Come to Buy Time

One of the outcomes of the COVID-19 crisis – according to reports from many radio and televisions stations – has been a precipitous drop in spot sales and customers cancelling existing advertising contracts, leaving lots of airtime to fill. To fill that time, and to help other struggling businesses, some broadcasters have responded by offering … Continue Reading

A Word of Caution to Broadcasters Pertaining to E-Cigarette and Vaping Advertisements

Last month I participated in a webinar with my colleague Dan Kirkpatrick where we addressed the issue of advertising controversial products. While the topic of marijuana advertising (which we discussed in our webinar) gets much attention these days–especially with the recent decision by CBS to turn down a cannabis ad for the Super Bowl–we also … Continue Reading

Noncommercial Stations Beware: When ‘Underwriting’ Spots Turn into Advertising, a Big Penalty Can Follow

Many noncommercial educational (NCE) stations – and their lawyers – were caught by surprise last week when the FCC issued a $115,000 civil penalty against an NCE licensee. The Cesar Chavez Foundation (CCF) was hit for running underwriting spots promoting for-profit entities. CCF agreed to the monetary penalty as part of an FCC approved consent … Continue Reading
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