Do you think that voluntary self-regulation in the form of industry codes of conduct can effectively protect consumers from unethical practices?In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the primary responsibility for regulating sales and advertisements.

Traditionally, the FTC has relied on two major criteria in establishing standards: deception and unfairness. The two criteria are related in that a marketing technique that deceives a consumer has, at the same time, proven unfair to competitors who now have to compete for that consumer with an undeserved disadvantage. With the advent of digital marketing techniques, the FTC is working, some would say struggling, to establish standards that can keep pace with the rapidly changing environment.