The Magician Fred Nadis
Wonder Shows,
01/2005
Book Chapter
In 1873, in Genoa, New York, townspeople saw the following poster announcing an upcoming performance: “if not spirits what is it. The mysterious man will perform the wonderful manifestations produced ...by all the noted mediums of the day.” The poster went on to describe the performer’s abilities, announcing, for example, that he “plays on several musical instruments while firmly bound with ropes” and that he “is released after being bound by a committee in less time than is taken in binding him.” Using rhetoric common to séance invitations, the poster urged the audience to “Come and Investigate.” Men were charged
This article concerns the FTC's discretionary answering of the three substantive questions which a potentially false and/or deceptive advertisement face. These questions concern: 1) the intelligence ...level of the consumer, 2) the standard to be used when evaluating the "promises" of the advertisement and 3) the method used to determine the "truth" of the ad's "promises." After viewing the discretionary nature of the answers to each of the substantive questions in the light of case law and/or FTC decisions, it is concluded that a "marketing oriented" FTC which among other things not only acknowledges but actively solicits grass root "consumer surveys" would better serve the public interest. These surveys would be performed by independent and non-partisan research firms to resolve the substantive questions asked would best serve the true public (consumer) interest.
Standards for Advertising Regulation Isabella C. M. Cunningham; Cunningham, William H.
Journal of marketing,
10/1977, Letnik:
41, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Is the FTC right in its use of the "least reasonable man" principle for protecting consumers against abuses by businessmen?
Several national magazines contain "back-of-the-book" advertisements which make claims that are highly questionable. This paper reports the results of a two-phase study of deceptive magazine ...advertising. The preliminary part of the study focuses on the perspectives of editors of magazines carrying back-page advertisements that appear to be misleading. A second phase of the study concerns the activities undertaken by industry and government groups to minimize deceptive advertising in magazines. Based on study findings, recommendations are made for eliminating deceptive magazine advertising.
Although much has been written about deception in advertising, no studies have been reported in which a deception and its impact on consumers were demonstrated empirically. The authors present a ...behavioral definition of deception and illustrate its operationalization in the context of a longitudinal experiment in which the effects of an explicit, deceptive product claim on a variety of cognitive variables were measured both before and after product trial. Issues related to the measurement of deception seriousness are emphasized. The basic approach appears generalizable to nonexperimental studies of real-world deception.
Using corrective and deceptive advertisements taken from the FTC's "Listerine Case," the authors examine whether exposure to a single corrective advertisement can reduce residual effects emanating ...from exposure to deceptive advertising in a longitudinal context. Results show that limited exposure to corrective advertisements was ineffective in bringing brand beliefs into equilibrium with "normative" levels. Findings also indicate that corrective ads affect other attributes of the product category even though they are not addressed in a remedial message.
Marketing scholars have an opportunity to help the public policy maker by providing him with information about marketer behavior. Studies of questionable, illegal, defensive, adaptive, opportunistic, ...regulated, and supportive marketer behavior would all be useful to the policy maker. This article defines the nature of the behavior in each of these seven categories, suggests the value to the policy maker of an understanding of the behavior in each category, and discusses the dynamics and proposes some determinants of marketer behavior.
It is a truism that government regulation of business, like all institutions of the political economy, has been evolutionary in nature. Yet few regulatory programs have metamorphosed quite so ...completely as that of the Federal Trade Commission, which converted itself in the period covered by this article from a watchdog of “competitive practices” that might militate against preservation of atomistic industrial organization, to an agency bent on protecting the interests of consumers. Professor Tedlow shows how this process worked itself out in the important case of truth in advertising.
