July 17th, 2001
Recent Crop of Sneaky Ads Backfires; Regulators Step in, Saying Advertisers Crossed the Line
By Michael McCarthy
USA Today
Don’t be fooled: Deceptive ads are on an ugly streak. That’s why federal officials and state regulators are on the warpath against ads that deceive consumers. “It comes down to what’s true and what’s false—not what’s tasteful or distasteful,” says Jay Nixon, Missouri attorney general.
Executives at Madison Avenue’s more traditional ad agencies blame a new breed of specialty agencies that often takes the low road with over-the-top hyperbole—if not outright deception. These marketing specialists often create ads for politicians or Hollywood studios or even corporations in crisis situations.
“Political advertising and Hollywood are not held to the same standards we are—but unfortunately we get tarred by the same brush,” says Bill Katz, chief executive of BBDO, New York. Still, mainstream agencies are behind some of the marketing gaffes.
Unfortunately, it’s the consumers who believe the deceptive campaigns who ultimately pay for it—often by purchasing products or services that disappoint them.
Among those deceptive ads under attack:
* Sneaky search engines? Ralph Nader’s Commercial Alert filed a deceptive advertising complaint against eight Internet search engines with the Federal Trade Commission on Monday.
The consumer watchdog group says the search engines place ads into the search results without identifying them as paid advertisements.
The companies cited include: Alta Vista, AOL Time Warner, Direct Hit Technologies, iWon, LookSmart, Microsoft and Terra Lycos.
“It’s hard to tell the ads are ads,” says Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert.
AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein defends his firm’s use of “sponsored links,” saying they “are clearly marked as such.”
* Studio scandals. Hollywood studios are still reeling from the controversy over deceptive marketing tactics. Sony Pictures, for example, used quotes from a fake critic named David Manning to push recent films, such as The Animal and A Knight’s Tale.
And studios, including Sony and Universal, have admitted to using actors or even their own employees to pose as fans for “man-on-the-street” interviews. Naturally, they gush about the new films.
The controversy has hit home in Hollywood where creating consumer buzz for a new movie is all-important. Sony is putting new guidelines in place to verify the “accuracy and authenticity” of critic blurbs, and it is eliminating testimonial ads, says spokeswoman Susan Tick. The two Sony marketing executives who conjured up the Manning character were suspended for 30 days but recently returned to work.
* Hollywood hype. Former vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., is leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers who back legislation that would allow the federal government to aggressively go after Hollywood studios that deceptively market adult-rated material to children.
“We are brought together by a common concern about the cumulative impact of all the sex, violence and vulgarity our children are exposed to in today’s 500-channel universe,” says Lieberman in a statement.
* Benetton’s back. The often provocative Italian clothing retailer is still in retreat over its controversial “We, on Death Row” ad campaign. The ads protested capital punishment by sympathetically profiling real-life inmates on death row.
To settle a lawsuit with the state of Missouri, Benetton agreed to write letters of “regret” to the victims’ families and donate $50,000 to the Missouri Crime Victims Fund. Sears stopped selling Benetton clothing after protests from consumers and a coalition of victims’ rights and law enforcement groups.
Nixon says Benetton made false claims to prison officials to gain access to death row and misrepresented the purpose of its interviews.
“In reality they wanted to commercialize death row,” he says. Benetton says the agreement “in no way indicates the company’s guilt.”
* Sweepstakes settlement. Publishers Clearing House had to fork over $ 34 million to settle lawsuits by 26 states saying it used deceptive sweepstakes promotions to push magazines. The deal includes restitution to thousands of consumers, Nixon says.
“We listened to the states’ concerns and have agreed to responsive and significant changes that will make our promotions the clearest, most reliable and trustworthy in the industry,” Robin Smith, PCH chief executive officer, said in a statement.