Kelley Drye Ad Law Access Podcast

In a recent decision, NAD notes that ​“clean” claims are ​“ubiquitous in the beauty industry.” Despite that, the term doesn’t have a clear definition and reasonable minds can disagree over exactly what it means. That creates a challenge for advertisers who are generally required to be able to substantiate all reasonable interpretations of their claims. Although NAD doesn’t take a position on what...

Last year, a trade association challenged aspirational claims that JBS – the world’s largest producer of beef products – was making about its commitment ​“to be net zero by 2040.” NAD determined that although the company had taken steps that ​may be helpful towards achieving its goal, those steps weren’t enough to support the implied claim that JBS was currently implementing a plan that would achi...

After nearly a year without a Republican Commissioner after Christine Wilson’s resignation, the FTC will again have a full slate of five Commissioners – with two new Republican Commissioners in Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson confirmed last night. Shortly before the President’s State of the Union address, the Senate voted unanimously via voice vote to confirm Holyoak and Ferguson along with re...

At its most recent open meeting on February 15, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) voted unanimously to adopt yet another round of rule changes related to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). These rule changes, focused on expanding consumers’ ability to revoke consent to receive calls and texts, build on the FCC’s other recent TCPA actions – namely the adopti...

As New York lawmakers consider legislation that would give the Attorney General broad new powers to target ​“unfair” trade practices, we brought the first installment of our 2024 Attorney General Webinar Series to the Empire State. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/what-we-learned-from-new-york\ Paul Singer psinger@kelleydrye.com (202) 342-8672 www.kelleydrye.com/Our-People...

I’ve never owned a tractor, but based on Kenny Chesney’s 1999 hit She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy, I understand that some people find them to be quite alluring. (The same goes for farmer’s tans, but that’s more relevant to this post.) It’s not clear whether Kenny’s girlfriend was particularly attracted to American-made tractors, but some people are. That’s why Kubota Tractor Corporation used to label...

As of January 1, 2024, the State of Maryland’s new telemarketing law, the ​“Stop the Spam Calls Act of 2023,” officially became law. One key provision of the new law creates a prohibition, absent prior express written consent, against ​“telephone solicitation[s]” that involve ​“an automated system for the selection or dialing of telephone numbers.” A ​“telephone solicitation” is defined as ​“an or...

New York Attorney General Letitia James joined Kelley Drye for its January State AG webinar to discuss consumer protection in the Empire State and her support for legislative reform that would grant the AG’s Office new powers to target ​“unfair” business practices. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/new-york-ag-supports-legislation-to-broaden-consumer-protection-powers Paul...

As we have discussed, the NAAG President, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, formally announced her 2024 Presidential Initiative focusing on America’s youth. As we noted, this was consistent with a broader priority for 2024 among many state attorneys general (AGs) across the country. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/state-ags-focus-on-social-media-and-its-impact-on-y...

New Jersey and New Hampshire are the first states out of the gate in what promises to be another busy year in state privacy legislation. On January 16, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Data Privacy Act (NJDPA), making the Garden State the first to enact a comprehensive privacy law in 2024. New Hampshire is set to follow after Senate Bill 255 (SB255) passed the legislature on J...

Another week, another flag on so-called junk fees. The FTC is in the midst of a months-long rulemaking targeting ​“unfair or deceptive fees” that would fundamentally alter the way businesses can advertise their prices to consumers. Recently, a bipartisan coalition of 19 state AGs (led by General Michelle Henry of Pennsylvania and General Josh Stein of North Carolina) filed a comment letter support...

On February 8, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) released a Declaratory Ruling to clarify that telemarketing and other calls made to consumers using certain types of artificial intelligence are subject to restrictions set forth in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and therefore are unlawful unless the caller has the requisite consent from the consumer reci...

A 2022 class action lawsuit against Danone Waters’ evian spring water will move forward, thanks to a judge in the Southern District of New York, who decided this week that he could not determine as a matter of law that the term ​“carbon neutral” does not have the capacity to mislead consumers. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/sdny-allows-false-advertising-suit-over-carbon-...

NAD recently reviewed posts promoting Cariuma sneakers that appeared on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Travel + Leisure, US Weekly, and The Quality Edit. The posts claimed that various celebrities wore the sneakers, encouraged consumers to buy the sneakers before they sold out, and included links to make a purchase or learn more. Each post was labeled as ​“sponsored.” https://www.kelleydry...

At its last open meeting of 2023, the FCC voted to adopt new rules ​“to protect consumers from unwanted and illegal text messages and calls.” Among the changes are a new ​“one-to-one” consent requirement for autodialed telemarketing texts and phone calls, clarification on the applicability of the Do-Not-Call Registry to text messages, and a limited text blocking mandate. These changes are discusse...

Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell recently announced that Grubhub, one of the nation’s most prominent food delivery platforms, will pay more than $3.5 million to settle claims that it overcharged restaurants in violation of a specific emergency fee cap imposed during the pandemic. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/massachusetts-ag-secures-3-5-million-settlement-against-g...

It’s a well-known principle (amongst those who practice in certain professions) that if you’re trying to make something sexy, you generally don’t want to reveal everything all at once. Instead, it can be better to reveal things slowly, leaving things to the audience’s imagination, and letting expectations build up before the big moment. Of course, that strategy can backfire if what you ultimately...

The year ahead promises to be busy on the state privacy front. As we’ve covered on this blog, states are continuing to fill the gap at the federal level by implementing comprehensive state laws that guarantee consumer privacy rights and regulate data sales, targeted advertising, and sensitive data. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/top-5-state-privacy-issues-were-monitoring...

If you follow our blog, you already know that there have been a number of significant developments in the world of advertising law over the past 12 months. In this post, we highlight ten of those developments and consider what they might mean for the future. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/top-advertising-law-developments-in-2023 Alysa Hutnik ahutnik@kelleydrye.com (202)...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule). The COPPA Rule applies to operators of websites and online services that are directed to children under 13 or that have ​“actual knowledge” they are collecting personal information from children under 13. It imposes notice, consent, data secur...

Last month, the New York AG filed a lawsuit against Sirius XM Radio, alleging that the company ​“sells subscriptions that are easy to purchase, and extremely difficult to cancel.” Consumers who want to cancel their subscriptions are forced to ​“undergo a lengthy and burdensome endurance contest that Sirius created and implemented as a strategy for keeping as many consumers from cancelling as possi...

As we covered in part I, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) finished the year with its 2023 Capital Forum in early December, focusing heavily on AI. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/naag-capital-forum-wrap-up-2023-part-ii-new-naag-presidential-initiative Paul Singer psinger@kelleydrye.com (202) 342-8672 www.kelleydrye.com/Our-People/Paul-L-Singer Abigail...

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) closed out the year with its 2023 Capital Forum in early December. This year’s Forum focused heavily on AI questions and concerns and past and future NAAG Presidential Initiatives. In this first post, we will cover the highlights of the AI panels. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/naag-capital-forum-wrap-up-2023-part-1-mo...

Chiara Ferragni is an Italian influencer with almost 30 million followers on Instagram. At last count, that’s more than the number of followers we have at Ad Law Access, so she must be doing something right. But a recent scandal that caught the attention of Italian authorities, including the Prime Minister, suggests that she may have also done a few things wrong. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoi...

Over the past several years, the number of consumer class actions involving product labels has significantly increased. The claims, primarily targeting food and clothing manufacturers, typically allege products are mislabeled or are otherwise misleading to consumers and as a result, the cost to consumers increases. https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/ad-law-access/vanilla-vigilante-spencer...