Mobile and online advertisers shouldn’t display ads on devices or...
Mobile and online advertisers shouldn’t display ads on devices or platforms where necessary disclosures can’t be made “clearly and conspicuously,” the FTC said Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/13RqHuh) in releasing updated guidance known as the Dot Com Disclosures. The guidance (http://1.usa.gov/13U7Uin), updated for…
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the first time since it was first released in 2000, tackles the issue of ad disclosures on smartphones and social media. “If a disclosure is needed to prevent an online ad claim from being deceptive or unfair, it must be clear and conspicuous,” the FTC said. Disclosure should be “clear and conspicuous on all devices and platforms” consumers might use to view the ad. Whereas the guidance issued in 2000 said advertisers should consider the disclosure’s proximity to the relevant ad claim -- and defined “proximity” as “near, and when possible, on the same screen” -- the updated guidance said disclosures should be “as close as possible” to the relevant claim. Advertisers should avoid using hyperlinks for disclosures “that involve product cost or certain health and safety issues,” both the 2000 and updated guidance say, while the updated guidance tells advertisers to label hyperlinks “as specifically as possible” and consider how hyperlinks will function on various programs and devices. Even “space-constrained” ads, such as those in social media, require disclosures “necessary to prevent an ad from being deceptive,” and such disclosures shouldn’t be conveyed in pop-ups “because they are often blocked.” Then Commissioner Jon Leibowitz didn’t participate in the otherwise unanimous vote approving the staff guidance. The new guidance includes several examples of mock ads that conform to or violate its recommendations. One ad for “imitation pearl” earrings notes that the ad correctly puts the disclosure “imitation” next to the product “pearl,” while another ad for 3/4-carat diamond earrings is misleading because it puts the disclosure -- that “diamond weights may not be exact” -- after a large blank space following the ad text. An ad for an Internet-connected home monitoring system is deceptive because it puts the disclosure -- the service requires a $9.99 monthly subscription -- in a different column “rather than directly under the price information” for the monitoring camera itself. Users viewing that non-mobile-optimized ad on a mobile device also could miss the disclosure because they click to zoom on the main body of text and “might not scroll left” to see the disclosure, the guidance said.