If you sell goods and services to consumers through automatically renewing payment plans, free or discounted trials that convert into full plans, or other “negative option features” that interpret a consumer’s silence as permission to keep charging them, you should monitor and consider submitting comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed Negative Option Rule. The proposed rule would impose detailed transparency, consent, simple cancellation and annual reminder requirements on companies that use any medium to offer recurring subscriptions for products or services, and allow the FTC to seek civil penalties of over USD 50,000 per violation and consumer redress for violations.

The use of endorsements and reviews in advertising continues to be an area of active Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement. The FTC has proposed updates to its Endorsement Guides to strengthen advertising guides related to endorsements and reviews.

Off the Shelf, the Global Consumer Goods & Retail (CG&R) Industry Video Podcast, provides short practical legal insights into the key issues affecting consumer goods and retail businesses. Increasingly, the desire for CG&R companies to include references and claims about their sustainability stems from the demand by consumers to know more about the brands they engage with, particularly their sustainability credentials, and this is driving this trend for green/sustainability claims to be increasingly featured and promoted.

The use of endorsements, testimonials and reviews in advertising continues to be an area of active Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement. Several recent actions by the FTC illustrate that it is prioritizing enforcement against deceptive or misleading endorsements, testimonials and product reviews and imposing significant penalties on companies engaging in such practices. In addition to its enforcement activities, the FTC has also issued recent guidance to enable marketers, platforms and others to consider whether their conduct might attract FTC scrutiny.

Off the Shelf, the Global Consumer Goods & Retail Industry Podcast, provides short practical legal insights into the key issues affecting consumer goods and retail (CG&R) businesses. Episode 16: New Brand on the Block(chain): Consortium Considerations In the final episode of our blockchain for brands series, Alyssa Auberger, Baker McKenzie’s Chief…

Off the Shelf, the Global Consumer Goods & Retail Industry Podcast, provides short practical legal insights into the key issues affecting consumer goods and retail (CG&R) businesses. The first Off the Shelf series focuses on COVID-19 and covers a range of issues, including longer-term considerations as CG&R businesses enter the…

In brief The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) sent warning letters to ten companies in recent days, instructing them to cease making any claims that their products treat or prevent COVID-19 and requiring confirmation within 48 hours that such advertising claims have ceased. Contents Because there are currently no products that…

What do Cardi B, Jordin Sparks and Alexa PenaVega have in common? If you guessed they each received warning letters from the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) last week, you are correct. The FTC sent letters to these three celebrities as well as seven other social media influencers warning that their…