On April 19th, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced The Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act (the “Act”). In a press release that positions the Act as having the same urgency as Congress’s efforts to take on the tobacco industry 30 years ago, the sponsors’ stated aim is to combat growing trends in childhood diabetes and obesity. As written, the Act requires the following: Prominently-displayed bold-type boxed warnings on the principle display panel of foods and beverages with specific warnings depending on the product’s nutritional profil ..read more

Glad advertises that its ForceFlex MaxStrength bags are “25% more durable.” More durable than what? If you follow an asterisk, you’ll learn that they are 25% more durable than Glad’s own 13-gallon ForceFlex bags. A competitor – presumably worried that consumers would think that Glad was making a comparison to its bags – brought a challenge before the NAD, questioning whether the basis of comparison was sufficiently clear. NAD didn’t think so. Glad pointed to its online disclosures, but NAD didn’t think they were sufficient. For example, on Glad’s website, “the disclosures appear at the bottom ..read more

As an update to our earlier blog post detailing the FTC’s amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the changes have since been published in the Federal Register, with an effective date of May 16, 2024. However, with respect to the expanded recordkeeping requirements for telemarketing call details, the FTC had previously announced a 180-day grace period to give affected businesses time implement systems, software, or procedures necessary to comply with the new requirements. As such, businesses will have until October 15, 2024 to adhere to that particular provision of the rule. Please contact ..read more

The Princeton Review advertises its MCAT preparation courses with the following copy: “Score a 515+ on the MCAT or add 15 points depending on your starting score. Guaranteed or your money back.” Blueprint Test Preparation filed a challenge before the NAD arguing that The Princeton Review must be able to substantiate that its students will score 515+ or add 15 points. The Princeton Review argued that it wasn’t making a performance claim – it was simply offering a money-back guarantee. Most NAD cases dealing with money-back guarantees have focused on whether the terms of the guarantee are clearl ..read more

Doing good just got a little more complicated for companies that run charitable campaigns in California. In January 2023, we posted that California had passed a new law governing certain types of charitable campaigns. Although the law partially went into effect last year, the state delayed enforcing several provisions until the California Registry of Charities and Fundraisers could issue regulations. After more than a year of waiting (and maybe hoping this would go away), companies now have the regulations. The most notable requirement is that companies will now be required to register as a “C ..read more

The Federal Trade Commission will hold the most important meeting of this administration at 2 PM EDT Tuesday April 23, 2024. Commissioners will decide whether to issue a rule that declares most noncompete clauses in employment contracts unfair methods of competition. Kelley Drye published my backgrounder on the proposal here. The deliberation and decision will be streamed live from www.FTC.gov. We will be watching and posting updates on LinkedIn and (Twitter)X. It has been fifty years since the FTC issued a competition rule, and then only as an adjunct to a conventional consumer-protection mea ..read more

Two consumers walked into supermarkets on a mission to find “nutritious, healthy snacks” that “would not likely increase [their] risk of disease” and later walked out with Fruit Bowls in Gel, Fruit Bowls in Juice, Canned Fruit in Juice, Canned Fruit in Heavy Syrup, Canned Fruit in Light Syrup, and Canned Fruit Juice. Perhaps those wouldn’t be your first choices, given that mission statement, but the consumers were swayed, in part, by Dole’s “promise to provide everyone, everywhere with good nutrition.” The consumers later learned – perhaps after consulting with their nutritionists or their leg ..read more

The governor of Maine recently signed an amendment to the state’s telephone solicitation law that will make it mandatory for telephone solicitors to check against the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) reassigned number database “to verify that a consumer’s telephone number has not been reassigned prior to initiating a telephone sales call to that consumer.” Callers will also be required to demonstrate that they check against the database in order to avail themselves of the state’s existing safe harbor for telemarketing violations. The amendment, which will become effective on July 16 ..read more

Crème Fatale is a drag artist who is famous for her baby-doll looks and pastel-colored skin. See the picture below. I tend to go for a more natural look myself, so I can’t imagine how long it takes to apply that makeup or how long it takes to remove it, but I bet the numbers are high on both sides of the project. Luckily, Fenty Skin makes a product that makes the removal phase a little easier. Ms. Fatale posted a video on Instagram demonstrating how the product works and used the platform’s “Paid Partnership” tool, along with “#ad” and “#sponsored,” to indicate that she was working with Fenty ..read more

Website accessibility lawsuits continue to be big business for plaintiffs’ attorneys, with thousands of lawsuits filed every year. Part of the problem is the lack of clear guidance from the government in this area, given that neither the Americans with Disabilities Act nor related state laws specifically address website accessibility or what (if anything) companies need to do when they code their websites. In a statement issued last year, the Department of Justice stated that ​“existing technical standards provide helpful guidance concerning how to ensure accessibility of website features.” Am ..read more