Questions tagged [advertisements]
114 questions
63
votes
1 answer
Why can't advertisers say 'Super Bowl'?
Around this time every year there are lots of ads talking about 'The Big Game' or the 'Suberb'-something. Essentially whatever it takes to say their thing is for the Super Bowl, without actually using the word.
I've heard that this is because the…
Pyrotechnical
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30
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5 answers
Is it illegal to market a product as if it would protect against something, while never making explicit claims?
I've recently come across an advertisement online of a product that stated
"Most people have heard of the horror of [bad thing] or even [worse thing]. Protect yourself with [our product] today!"
A layman would interpret this as "Our product…
MechMK1
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23
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5 answers
What might be illegal about a company using deceptive phone calls to establish a contract and seeking payments under it?
I have recently been encountering an organisation whose mode of operation is to dupe members of venue staff into "agreeing" to have their venue advertised "online". Subsequently a bill arrives for this service.
The initial conversation typically…
Rodney
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19
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6 answers
Can legal action reasonably be taken against someone unsavory for endorsing your product/company?
Advertisers don't want their product/company associated with certain people/content. Which is why a lot of ads don't play on more controversial content (e.g. demonetized videos on Youtube).
But what if someone unsavory, against the wishes of a…
chausies
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18
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5 answers
Is it legal to describe something exactly as "cheese" without asterisks or other qualification if it doesn't contain any dairy?
Is the marketing statement "our cheese is made of 100% plant ingredients" false advertising and is it legal?
Ohan
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14
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4 answers
Clicking ads as a form of protest or boycott
Would it be legal to click on ads on the internet, as a form of protest or boycott, making the advertisers waste time, money, or resources for something that you are not actually interested in? What exactly would make it legal or illegal, and why?…
reed
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13
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4 answers
Threatening to discontinue a service for a client
Say someone advertises for their website and says "Its 100% free to sign up" then have them check a checkbox acknowledging that the owner of the site can cancel the service for any reason when they are signing up.
Now 5 months later the owner of the…
user55665484375
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11
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3 answers
Am I allowed to use images from sites like Pixabay in my YouTube videos?
If a person has a YouTube channel where that person displays their original music, and the channel is monetized (that is, the channel owner is making money from ads), is the channel owner allowed to put pictures in the videos from sites like…
user37154
11
votes
1 answer
Is it legal to use fake photos in advertising?
When browsing for an image of Marrakesh I came across a picture which search engines and AI could not specifically identify. Google Lens turned up many Morocco tour operators who are using the picture, but without a specific location. I posted the…
Weather Vane
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9
votes
1 answer
How can a restaurant, Old Homestead Steakhouse, continue their false claims of selling Kobe beef?
About a year ago, Inside Edition reporters first revealed that two high-end restaurants in New York City, La Bernardin and Old Homestead Steakhouse, were serving beef that they claimed to be Kobe beef, which was untrue, given that there were only 9…
user12648
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7
votes
2 answers
Putting up a "we're closing!" sign illegal?
There's a store near our home that has the "We're closing! Everything must go! Huge discounts!" Sign.
It has been on their store for at least 6 months.
Is it fraudulent or illegal to make such an advertisement when the store has no plans to close?
Aurora A
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6
votes
1 answer
Is it fraudulent for an extension like adblock to still count as an ad impression for content creators
tl;dr:
A Programmer writes a web browser Extension to download ads but not display them.
The effect is that Sites accessed through this extension get to charge Advertisers for the ad being served, even though it will not be seen.
The Sites don't…
Script Kitty
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5
votes
1 answer
Is it legal to post a job opening that the company has no intention of filling?
This survey talks about the concept of "ghost jobs", job postings that the company leaves open for longer than necessary or doesn't actually intend to fill. I'm curious about the second one, as a job posting that is just gathering resumes without a…
Ryan Donovan
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5
votes
3 answers
Is there a legal reason why many advertisements say “Limited Time Offer”?
Companies often offer various types of short-term promotions. The ads almost always contain fine print that says “Limited Time Offer.” Is there a specific reason why they have to do that?
It seems really unlikely to me that, if they didn’t include…
SegNerd
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5
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2 answers
Why are drug trade names often written in all caps, and does the use of all caps reduce the risk of trademark genericization?
One thing I've consistently noticed in TV commercials and other marketing materials for drugs is that the trade name for a drug, especially a prescription drug, is almost always written in all caps within text (e.g. NEXIUM):
Important Safety…
bwDraco
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