Deceptive Advertising

Without being monitored by the Federal Trade Commission, consumers could easily fall victim to countless cases of deceptive advertising in commercial speech. My presentation Thursday will focus on the policies of the Federal Trade Commission as it endeavors to protect "reasonable consumers" from the deception in the media. This regulatory agency monitors trade policy and, as you will see in my example with Reebok shoes, the FTC does not let anyone slip by these policies, not even highly reputable companies. I also look at a case of fraudulent internet marketing and the problem with "Risk Free Trials". Although the internet is much more vast and harder to control, the FTC does not let it fall by the wayside. In both cases we see the FTC's enforcements of cease and desist orders- prohibiting further communication of the deception, and hefty fines. Through this I focus on the various ways the FTC enforces their policies. Monitoring this results in more lawful, truthful, and substantial advertisements that accomplish what they advertise. The two cases that I will look at failed to do so, and their repercussions at the hand of the FTC were impactful. It is not a challenge to reflect on the question of the week which asks, "Who controls and monitors the media?", when clearly in the case of deceptive advertising, the Federal Trade Commission does its best to manage deception, with the consumers' best interest at heart.