Advertising and the Federal Trade Commission: A Reposte

Abstract

Making advertisements which perform their basic function of selling goods and services in a competitive economy has become more difficult lately, largely due to increased intervention in advertising matters by the Federal Trade Commission and a broadening of their interest in all affairs relating to the market place. Somewhat paradoxically, this has had some favorable effects on the advertising business. It has encouraged greater attention to product performance. It has caused advertising to be more specific and accurate in what It says or implies. And it has accelerated the movement toward serious advertising self-regulation. But it's a short step from the sublime to the ridiculous. And in its vigorous efforts to regulate, the FTC has often overstepped its authority and has taken stupid—If not down-right dangerous—positions.     

中国(上海)自由贸易试验区仲裁规则评述

法学理论的发展,催生了仲裁实务的新潮流。《上海国际经济贸易仲裁委员会(上海国际仲裁中心)中国(上海)自由贸易试验区仲裁规则》的出现,对于临时措施、合并仲裁、开放名册、仲裁调解、友好仲裁等仲裁制度做了大胆和有益的实践。本文将结合仲裁理论研究,对于以上创新制度在自贸区仲裁规则中的尝试进行分析,探求中国仲裁制度发展的新思路。     

The Shifting Sands of Merger Enforcement at the Federal Trade Commission

This paper presents a statistical model for Federal Trade Commission merger enforcement. After reviewing the literature, economic and political variables are posited to explain bureaucratic merger decisions. Various probit models are estimated with the results suggesting that the Commission enhanced the consideration given to merger–specific efficiencies in response to exogenous pressure to increase merger enforcement. Overall, the tightening of merger policy appears to have been focused on the transactions lacking documented cost savings     

The European Commission's Green Paper on European Contract Law

In July 2001 the European Commission published a Communication to the Council and the European Parliament, its so-called "Green Paper" on European Contract Law (COM (2001) 398). This document seeks feedback on the options sketched by the Commission for future European Community action in the contract law field.The present note, which incorporates as an Appendix the text of the Green Paper itself, is designed to explain the background to the Commission's intervention (the first section, pp. 339–350 below), to provide a brief commentary on the content of the Green Paper (the second section, pp. 350–356) and then to assess the constitutional implications of a proposed advance towards a European Contract Law (the third section, pp. 356–371). It is argued that the debate about the creation of a European contract law is properly seen not merely as a matter of cultural feasibility and of commercial desirability, but that in addition assessment of the EC's potential contribution is heavily conditioned by increasing constitutional anxieties about the EC's legitimate role in the field of market regulation. The Green Paper avoids explicit treatment of the constitutional dimension of European contract law, yet, it is argued in this note, this is in fact unavoidable in the wake of the European Court's seminal judgment of October 2000 in the so-called "Tobacco Advertising" case in which it for the first time invalidated a measure of harmonisation of laws on the basis that an insufficient connection with the process of market-building had been shown by the European Community's legislature. This demands that the constitutional validity of legislative proposals in the field of contract law be examined with care, for the EC, an entity created by an international Treaty, has been endowed with no general competence as lawmaker in this or any other field, even though past legislative practice may have tended to obscure this constitutionally fundamental principle.     

The EU Commission's proposals for reform of the CAP

Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy continues to be one of the major challenges facing the EU. In its mid-term review of the Agenda 2000 the European Commission has presented a number of proposals which are discussed by the contributors to this Forum.     

The Impact of Advertising on Markets

This paper is a preliminary report of research being carried out into the influence of advertising in five major areas of consumer expenditure. In each case it tests the proposition that changes in advertising cause changes in consumption, employing Box—Jenkins techniques to determine the existence of causality using quarterly data during the period 1963 to 1978. No market showed advertising to have any effect upon its size.     

Regulating product safety: The informational role of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission

Those familiar with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission know that it often deals with product safety issues. Nevertheless it is not generally recognized as a safety agency. This paper undertakes a comprehensive review and analysis of the FTC's safety-related activities. It also presents a preliminary evaluation of the potential for FTC safety-related activities to improve consumer product-related safety as compared to other, more traditional, forms of safety law and regulation. It recommends that the FTC make greater use of its unfairness authority to provide safety information during the period of product use in contrast to the Commission's current focus on regulating pre-purchase information.

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Zusammenfassung Die Regulierung der Produktsicherheit: die informationelle Rolle der U.S. amerikanischenDie Federal Trade Commission ist häufig mit Fragen Wettbewerbsbehörde FTC. der Produktsicherheit befa\t. Dennoch gilt sie nicht als generelle Sicherheitsinstanz. Der Beitrag bietet einen überblick über die Aktivitäten der FTC, die Fragen der Sicherheit berühren, und analysiert dabei die Regulierung werblicher Aussagen zur Produktsicherheit, der Unterlassung von Produktinformationen zur Produktsicherheit vor dem Kauf sowie der Sicherheitsinformationen während des Gebrauchs eines Produktes. Zugleich versucht der Beitrag eine vorläufige Bewertung dieser FTC-Aktivitäten zur Verbesserung der Produktsicherheit im Vergleich zu anderen, eher traditionellen Formen der rechtlichen Regelung der Produktsicherheit. Der Autor schlägt vor, da\ sich die FTC stärker der Regulierung der Sicherheitsinformationen während der Produktverwendung widmet, statt — wie bisher — den Schwerpunkt auf die Regulierung der Information vor dem Kauf zu legen.

     

本土广告赢家——户外广告

过去十年，在中国广告业营业额增长6倍的同时，户外广告以整个广告业2倍以上的速度迅猛发展。[第一段]     

The Death of Advertising

Abstract

Mass media advertising as we know it today is on its deathbed, and its prognosis is poor. Advertising agencies are restructuring to accommodate a harsher advertising climate, agency income is flat, agency employees are being laid off, direct marketing is stealing business from traditional advertising, and the growth of sales promotion and integrated marketing communications both come at the expense of traditional advertising. The reason for advertising's impending demise is the advent of new technologies that have resulted in the fragmentation of media and markets, and the empowerment of consumers. In the place of traditional mass media advertising, a new communications environment is developing around an evolving network of new media, which is high capacity, interactive and multimedia. The result is a new era of producer-consumer interaction. Because of the speed of technological innovation, the new media advertising paradigm that results will attain prominence faster than did mass media advertising. The new paradigm of 21st Century Marketing and advertising will be dominant by 2010 and should last well into the middle of the century. If they hope to survive, university advertising departments will have about ten years to 1) think of themselves much more broadly, and 2) transform themselves into departments specializing in information transfer in the new media environment.     

基于传播受众的广告理论研究综述

基于对广告传播受众是主动还是被动,是个体还是群体的二维假定对广告作用机理及其对社会的影响进行了综述,发现感知信息处理法对于广告管理的实践是非常有用的,但是也应关注更加广泛的社会和文化环境。     

The In-House Advertising Agency

This study attempts a comparative analysis of advertisers with in-house agency vs. those using an independent advertising agency. Issues under consideration are:

1. The relationship between the advertisers and the advertising agency.

2. Advertiser's satisfaction with the compensation system, i.e., 15% commission.

3. Evaluation of advertising agency performance, i.e., creative media buying, and other services.

4. The importance of advertising to the company's marketing mix.     

The Internationalisation of Advertising

World expenditure on advertising has grown faster than world gross product in recent years. Organisational structure is highly dichotomised between small and large firms: the latter have engaged in restructuring into major transnational networks co-ordinated by holding companies. This is the most effective way to service multinational clients which have globalised product development but sell locally. But trade in advertising services is restricted by barriers to market access, national treatment and the opportunities created by global agreements such as the GATS. Technology may, however, be a more important influence on the internationalisation of agenceis than trade liberalisation.     

Banking on Advertising

During the last decade, advertising has emerged as a most important promotion medium for the banks. The competitive pressures within the personal savings markets have become more intense. The banks have become noticeable by their aggressive promotion, through increased advertising expenditure, radical changes in style and forms of advertising, and their increasing use of television. In 1971, the joint stock banks spent M£2.5on advertising and only 4 per cent of this was directed through television. By the end of 1981, expenditure had increased to M£22.6 with over 50 per cent directed through television.     

The European Commission's business ethics: a critique of proposed reforms

This paper discusses the reform of the European Commission in the wake of the mass resignations of March 1999. It places reform in the framework of the global business ethics movement by making the case for business ethics in government. It examines the Committee of Independent Experts' report as well as the Commission's White Paper on reform. It argues that effective Commission reform is not possible without fundamental culture change, and puts forward thirteen recommendations that, if implemented, are calculated to improve ethics in the Commission's culture, thereby reducing the incidence of questionable conduct. It concludes by maintaining that effective reform is possible, albeit difficult.     

The Saga of the Directive on Misleading Advertising

After reviewing the legislative history and the current situation regarding the adjustment of member states' laws to implement the European Community's Directive on Misleading Advertising, it is clear that those who plan or hope to influence future regulatory activities can learn significant lessons from the past. Regulation of advertising should be in accordance with economic and social facts and opinions that are relevant to European conditions, indeed to conditions in each member state. All major interested and knowledgeable parties—business, consumer groups and government—should be consulted and involved directly in the process. The advertising business should make efforts to educate others accurately about the nature of advertising, the process of preparing effective and appropriate advertising and advertising's effects on consumers, the economy and society. The advertising business should also develop self- regulatory systems more fully.     

The Effects of Corrective Advertising on Company Image

Corrective advertising, that is, advertising designed compulsorily to undo misleading impressions created by deceptive advertising, is shown in this paper to have an impact on the reputation of the company required to run such advertisements. The authors report on experiments conducted in the United States and Canada to measure the nature and extent of the impact.