Marketing and advertising your products or services effectively is key to the success of your business. However, all businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure that any advertising claims are truthful, not deceptive, and that your marketing activities don't break the law.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversees and regulates advertising and marketing law in the United States. These laws can potentially impact many areas of your business, including how you label your products, how you conduct email and telemarketing campaigns, any health and environmental claims you may make, as well as how you advertise to children.

Here are some commons laws that you should be aware of and that apply to your business:

• Truth in Advertising and Marketing Claims
  Under this law, claims in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based. This law covers how you may use endorsements in your marketing, how to advertise to children, when "Made in the USA" labels should be used, and how you should treat health and environmental claims in your advertising.


• Industry Guides
  The FTC has some rules and compliance guides for specific industries including franchise, real estate, clothing manufactures, and others as to how these industries may advertise. You should consult with an attorney for information on laws that could affect your specific industry or business type.


• Telemarketing
  The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule helps protect consumers from fraudulent telemarketing calls and gives them certain protections under the National Do Not Call Registry. You must also be familiar with rules banning most forms of robo-calling. If you are working in the telemarketing products or services, know the dos and don'ts before you plan your strategy.


• Email SPAM
  The law is very specific on what email you can send and to whom. The CAN-SPAM Act establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. To comply with this law, make sure you don't use false or misleading header information, don't use deceptive subject lines, identify the message as an ad, tell recipients where you are located, tell recipients how to opt-out of receiving future email from you, and honor opt-out requests promptly.

Next month we will be talking about Online Business Law – What Every Business Owner Should Know.

Each case is different so remember, Bagla Law is always here to help you with your business needs because You Know Your Business – We Know the Law!

If you have any questions about these issues or other topics please feel free to give us a call.

Talk with you next month,
Kelly