1
ABA CONSUMER PROTECTION
UPDATE
May 2007
The Lustigman Firm, P.C.
Andrew Lustigman
Adam Solomon
Jonathan Ezor
2
Agenda
Federal Trade Commission
Update
State Attorneys General Update
Private Litigation Update
National Advertising Division
Update
Privacy Update
3
Deceptive Marketing
of
Magazine Subscriptions
FTC charged several Pennsylvania-based
defendants with violating the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule
by telemarketing magazine subscriptions falsely claiming they were only
conducting a survey and providing an incentive of receiving “valuable
coupons” for groceries and other items worth over $1,000
FTC alleged that defendants
failed to tell consumers that they were actually selling magazine subscriptions
and to get the coupons they had to buy magazine subscriptions
FTC alleged that sometimes
defendants claimed that the magazines were free or that the consumers
only had to pay shipping and handling or otherwise misrepresented the
cost of the subscriptions
FTC claimed that defendants
violated the TSR when they called consumers and failed to make clear
that they were offering products for sale, failed to disclose the total
cost of their program before obtaining payment information, made misrepresentations
to induce consumers to make a purchase, and misrepresented the cancellation
policy