Lesley Fair

The release of the Federal Trade Commission’s fourth major study on the alcohol industry offers a wealth of empirical data for your consideration. Based on information submitted by 14 companies in response to FTC Special Orders, the study focuses on alcohol advertising and industry efforts to reduce marketing to underage audiences. The report also offered a series of recommendations for the industry. Here are just a few:

• When placement compliance levels fall below 90% due to fluctuations in the make-up of the audience, companies should consider using a higher audience composition threshold.
• Demographics for radio audiences used to measure only 12 and older, but now go as low as 6. Companies should use this more comprehensive data when making placements.
• Companies should take advantage of age-gating technologies offered by social media, including YouTube. Age gates on company websites should require the entry of a birthdate and not just a certification that the visitor is over 21.
• For user-generated content, companies should watch what’s going on and use blocking content to reduce the potential for violations of industry advertising and marketing codes.
• State regulatory authorities, consumer groups, and others concerned about alcohol marketing should participate in the industry’s external complaint review system.
• Those concerned about underage drinking should use free “We Don’t Serve Teens” educational materials available at DontServeTeens.gov.

When the Federal Trade Commission sued payday lender AMG Services in 2012, the complaint charged the defendants with a host of deceptive and unfair practices aimed at consumers already struggling to make ends meet.

Undisclosed fees and debt collection calls that threatened arrest were just a few of the allegations. The defendants countered with an interesting defense: that their affiliation with American Indian tribes rendered them beyond the reach of the FTC Act. A US Magistrate Judge rejected those arguments and a recent decision by a US District Judge in Nevada affirmed those findings.