FTC Released a Guide for .com Disclosures: Evaluating Proximity in Space-Constrained Ads (March 2013)

Guide for .com Disclosures: Evaluating Proximity in Space-Constrained Ads

Many space-constrained ads displayed today are teasers. Because of their small size and/or short length, space-constrained ads, such as banner ads and tweets, generally do not provide very much information about a product or service. Often, consumers must click through to the website to get more information and learn the terms of an offer. If a space-constrained ad contains a claim that requires qualification, the advertiser disseminating it is not exempt from disclosure requirements.

● Disclose required information in the space-constrained ad itself or clearly and conspicuously on the website to which it links. In some cases, a required disclosure can easily be incorporated into a space-constrained ad. Example 15 In other instances, the disclosures may be too detailed to be disclosed effectively in the ad itself. These disclosures may sometimes be communicated effectively to consumers if they are made clearly and conspicuously on the website to which the ad links. In determining whether the disclosure should be placed in the space-constrained ad itself or on the website to which the ad links, advertisers should consider how important the information is to prevent deception, how much information needs to be disclosed, the burden of disclosing it in the ad itself, how much information the consumer may absorb from the ad, and how effective the disclosure would be if it were made on the website. If a product promoted in a space-constrained ad can be bought in a brick and mortar store, consumers who do not click through to a linked website would miss any disclosure that was not in the space-constrained ad itself. If the disclosure needs to be in the ad itself but it does not fit, the ad should be modified so it does not require such a disclosure or, if that is not possible, that space-constrained ad should not be used.

● Use creativity to incorporate or flag required information. Scrolling text or rotating panels in a banner ad can present an abbreviated version of a required disclosure that indicates additional important information and a more complete disclosure are available on the click-through page.

● Use disclosures in each ad. If a disclosure is required in a space-constrained ad, such as a tweet, the disclosure should be in each and every ad that would require a disclosure if that ad were viewed in isolation. Do not assume that consumers will see and associate multiple space-constrained advertisements. Example 16

● Short-form disclosures might or might not adequately inform consumers of the essence of a required disclosure. For example, “Ad:” at the beginning of a tweet or similar short-form message should inform consumers that the message is an advertisement, and the word “Sponsored” likely informs consumers that the message was sponsored by an advertiser. Other abbreviations or icons may or may not be adequate, depending on whether they are presented clearly and conspicuously, and whether consumers understand their meaning so they are not misled. Example 17 Misleading a significant minority of reasonable consumers is a violation of the FTC Act.

● Maintaining disclosures with republication. Advertisers should employ best practices to make it less likely that disclosures will be deleted from spaceconstrained ads when they are republished by others. Some disclosures can be placed at the beginning of a short-form message. Alternatively, if a disclosure is placed at the end of a message, the original message can be written with enough free space that the disclosure is not lost if the message is republished with a comment by others.

● Disclosures on the click-through. In some instances — e.g., when a teaser ad does not actually identify the product being advertised, so the consumer must click through to learn its identity, or when the advertised product is sold only through the advertiser’s own website and the consumer must click through in order to take any action — a space-constrained ad can direct consumers to a website for more information if a detailed disclosure is necessary but will not fit in the space-constrained ad. The full disclosure must then be clearly and conspicuously displayed on the website.

● Providing required disclosures in interactive ads. If consumers can purchase a product within an interactive ad, all required disclosures should be included in the ad itself.

 

For more information, see here:  https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/com-disclosures-how-make-effective-disclosures-digital

 

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