BBB National Programs Blog

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s December 14 Operation Income Illusion initiative is a crackdown by the FTC and 19 federal, state, and local law enforcement partners against those that purport to offer significant income opportunities but that end up costing consumers thousands of dollars. This effort is consistent with an ongoing effort in the direct selling industry to ensure income claims are communicated truthfully and accurately.

BBB National Programs has published the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) and Children’s Confection Advertising Initiative (CCAI) Report on Compliance and Progress During 2019. The report finds excellent compliance by all companies participating in the programs from January 2019 – December 2019. The report also notes the CFBAI participants’ implementation of stricter Uniform Nutrition Criteria in 2020.

During an uncertain year, the team at the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) stayed busy. Through casework, online conferences, an evolving technology landscape, updates to policy and guidelines, and new thought leadership, our efforts furthered our mission to help companies comply with the laws and guidelines that protect children and their personal data.

While the FCC regulates children’s cable television and allows for only 10.5-12 minutes of advertising to be shown per hour, there is no comparable guidance to regulate the volume or frequency of ads in digital advertising.

With results from the presidential election officially in but the U.S. Senate in a state of uncertainty until Georgia’s runoffs in January, businesses are contemplating what a divided government could mean for them. Yet while it is only prudent to assess how executive and legislative decisions might reshape marketplace conditions over the next several years, I suggest there is a more pressing problem for businesses to address right now: a lack of trust in the marketplace.

2020 has been a year unlike any other. In a time of great uncertainty, facing the holidays can feel be daunting. When it comes to holiday shopping, it is safe to say that many of us will be primarily shopping online this year. To help ensure your online holiday shopping experience is safe and efficient this holiday season, the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) team has put together some tips and red flags to consider when making those all-important gift selections.

The National Advertising Division (NAD) Fast-Track SWIFT advertising challenge process launched seven months ago as a faster way to resolve single-issue cases. The process has kept its promise of fast and fair decisions. This blog covers lessons learned and best practices gathered by the NAD team since the launch of SWIFT.

Teen privacy is more at risk online than ever. The TeenAge Privacy Program (TAPP) new whitepaper, Risky Business: The Current State of Teen Privacy in the Android App Marketplace, examines how teens put themselves at risk when they engage with mobile apps.

This year the National Advertising Division (NAD) Annual Conference, NAD 2020, welcomed marketing and advertising law experts to a virtual event that featured high-caliber keynote speakers, cutting-edge panels on advertising law, and key topics such as COVID-19 fraud, diversity and bias in advertising law, and the controversial role of social media. Here are some takeaways from the event that we found worthy of a call-out.

On September 22, the 2020 CARU Conference kicked off the Fall Series with a keynote from the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC)'s Peder Magee, and Phyllis Marcus, a Partner at Huton Andrews Kurth and one of the original authors of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).