Endorsements, the FTC and you

By Alan Graner

In marketing, few weapons are more powerful than endorsements and testimonials. These “third-party validations” add credence to marketing claims. After all, they’re actual users.

Or are they?

Back in the ‘60s ads portrayed doctors endorsing cigarettes. What you didn’t know was the “doctor” was nothing more than an actor in a white coat.

Movie stars endorsed products and services they wouldn’t be caught dead using.

Celebrities in infomercials promised you could earn $25,000 in a single month or drive a golf ball 100 yards further or look younger. All too often the only thing they knew about the product was what they read in the script.

Enter the Feds

Phony endorsements ended on December 1, 2009 when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its Guides Concerning the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, its first update since the 1980 Guides.

According to the FTC, “The Guides set forth the general principles that the Commission will use in evaluating endorsements and testimonials….The Guides do not purport to cover every possible use of endorsements in advertising. Whether a particular endorsement or testimonial is deceptive will depend on the specific factual circumstances of the advertisement at issue.”

In other words, the FTC determines what’s an endorsement and whether it violates the Guides.

What is an “endorsement”?

The FTC Guides consider any advertising message consumers believe truly reflects the endorser’s opinions and experiences is an endorsement or testimonial.

According to section 255.1:

 (a) An endorsement must reflect the endorser’s honest opinions, beliefs or experience.

If a tire company hires a famous race car driver to promote its products, it’s reasonable for consumers to expect this is his honest opinion, even if it’s scripted. If it’s bogus, both the advertiser and the driver may face FTC penalties.

(b) An advertiser can’t take an endorsement out of context or distort its meaning by rewording it.

In the past a movie critic could write a scathing review, totally panning the film while conceding the animal actors were wonderful. The advertiser would then use “Wonderful!” as an endorsement. No more.

(c) The endorser must actually be using the product at the time of the endorsement.

The great Lou Gehrig was paid to endorse Huskies cereal, leading people to believe he ate them for breakfast every morning. But when asked on a radio program what helped him to hit all those home runs, Gehrig honestly replied “A heaping bowlful of Wheaties.” (Being an honest man, Gehrig returned his endorsement money to Huskies.)

(d) If the product doesn’t perform as promised, both the advertiser and the endorser may be liable.

You’re watching an infomercial hosted by a famous personality for a home fitness system. She claims the system will reduce your waistline by 3 inches in 30 days. You buy it, you use it, you only lose an inch. According to the FTC, if the claim appears false, you can sue both the advertiser and the celebrity.

What’s your take on all this?

Image: U.S. Government

Alan Graner is Chief Creative Officer at Daly-Swartz Public Relations, an Orange County, CA marketing communications firm. For honest endorsements and testimonials that don’t violate FTC Guides, email Jeffrey Swartz at jeffreyswartz@dsprel.com.