Undo those likes, pins and retweets. Federal regulators are cracking down on advertising through social media, according to attorneys at Thompson Hine in a recent bulletin. The Federal Trade Commission “has long regulated the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising,” they say, and social media is starting to make the cut.
Cole Haan recently found out the hard way, when a contest the shoe company held on Pinterest came under FTC scrutiny. The agency determined the hashtag being used didn’t appropriately convey there was a prize for users creating pinboards. In a similar move, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration came down on a dietary-supplement maker for “liking” comments on its Facebook and Twitter accounts made my consumers who praised the product. The FDA determined the likes were, in fact, endorsements and testimonials of its products, explain the attorneys.
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