“Results Not Typical” No Longer Typical
Debbi BresslerWe’ve all seen those outrageous infomercials, advertisements or email messages touting unbelievable achievements by purchasing Product X or Service Y. (The most common niches I see for this type of advertising are weight loss and making money.)
In the past, claims like “I lost 75 pounds in three months” and “I earned $7000 my first week!” have been allowed because of three simple words: “Results Not Typical”. While 99% of the participants may have only lost four pounds in three months, those three little words protected advertisers.
But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is about to change that. Following two separate research studies, the FTC found that consumers felt these claims were representative of what the average person could expect to achieve. They did not view these success stories as a one-in-a-million result, even with the “Results Not Typical” disclaimer.
If these changes are instituted, advertisers who use this type of success story will have to:
- Provide clinical data substantiating that these results were the average; or
- Eliminate such success stories fro their advertising campaigns; or
- If using non-representative success stories, they must be accompanied by a disclosure of what their average customer achieves.
The new guidelines would affect those who make specific, quantifiable claims. Having someone comment on the ease of use of a product or service would not fall under these new guidelines.
If you have not received your current campaigns in awhile, this is a great opportunity to update them and make sure you’ll be in compliance.
Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse
March 19th, 2009 at 4:52 am
Very nice information. Thanks for this.
March 19th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Nice Articles, thanks for this, looking for your next post. Keep your good work.