Icebox Ike, a well-known tackle for a professional football team, was recently signed to a multimillion-dollar contract by the National Ballet Touring Company to appear in a series of nationally televised advertisements touting the pleasures of going to the ballet and showing him in the audience watching a ballet. In fact, Icebox has never been to a ballet, although he has told his friends that he "truly believes" ballet is a "wonderful thing." The FTC opens an investigation to determine whether there are grounds to take legal action against Icebox and the ballet company ads.

1.) What advice can you give Icebox Ike?

2.)What advice can you give the National Ballet Touring Company? Make sure you explain why you are giving that advice.

3.)What remedies can the FTC seek? Make sure to cite the source from which you derived your answers (and page number if it is one of our textbook resources).

Celebrity endorsement--Testimonials > Person giving the testimonial must in fact use the product > Facts stated in testimonial must be true; unless the endorser is an expert on the facts stated in the testimonial, they must make reasonable inquiries and look to independently verify Examples of Deceptive Advertising per the PFC Deceptive advertising: 1) Material misrepresentation, omission or practice that is 2)likely to mislead 3) a reasonable consumer b Failure to disclose pertinent facts > Descriptions of products > Puffinguse of generalities and clear exaggerations are permissible (greatest, best) > Misleading price and savings claim (use of the word \"free\") > Product comparison claims and half-truthslnformation that is true but not complete; FTC will require ad substantiation b Pictorial and Television advertisingcannot create a false impression through visual representations > Bait and switch (see next slide) Bait and Switch One of the more common forms of deceptive advertising Advertising a low price for an item generally unavailable to the consumer and then pushing the consumer into buying a more expensive item. How does this manifest itself: 1) Seller might advertise a low price but have too little of the advertised good in stock, or 2) Seller might discourage employees from sellin the advertised item