4 ms·

If I were a legislator, I would introduce a bill to ban footnotes in advertising. Everything that the company feels it needs to print, must be included in the m

If I were a legislator, I would introduce a bill to ban footnotes in advertising. Everything that the company feels it needs to print, must be included in the main ad copy. Enough with this coy duplicity.

dijit 3y ago
there are laws about this (in the UK), and very often you can get settlements. Misleading advertising is a punishable offence and “terms and conditions” is usually not a strong enough defence if the terms are dense enough or buried enough.
kristopolous 3y ago
I agree with the sentiments but I don't know if that's feasible
- tiedieconderoga 3y ago
  Why not, besides the practical impossibility of the current Congress passing such a law? IMHO, it would level the playing field for honest manufacturers and service providers. Sure, it would effectively outlaw many types of ads that we see today, but do you think any of the types of ads that rely on hidden fine print are really all that valuable to our economy or society?
  - kristopolous 3y ago
    Ok let's take contests. They're void where prohibited and a bunch of other rules apply. Should the odds of winning along with these caveats be stated in the copy? Let's take guarantees and warranties. There's certainly nuances there. Should all those also be disclosed in the main copy? Let's take the main thing here. What if they went out of business? Forever never actually means for perpetuity. All these are obvious? So is the rule to stare everything but the obvious? Who determines that? There's so many practical details that complicate things here In fact, much of these things have made their way into the law a long time ago. Maybe you just want to restrict the freedom of how they can display it?
- newjersey 3y ago
  If an ad for a depression medicine on the tv has time to say crazy things like “side effects may include depression, […] and death”, I am sure Charter and Comcast have enough time to say that their gigabit coax service is only gigabit for downloads, not for uploads.
richbell 3y ago
Where I live there are several large billboards advertising incredible offers. The fine print is so small I'm not sure it's even possible to read.
dalmo3 3y ago
"terms and conditions apply"

dijit 3y ago

there are laws about this (in the UK), and very often you can get settlements. Misleading advertising is a punishable offence and “terms and conditions” is usually not a strong enough defence if the terms are dense enough or buried enough.

kristopolous 3y ago

I agree with the sentiments but I don't know if that's feasible

tiedieconderoga 3y ago
Why not, besides the practical impossibility of the current Congress passing such a law? IMHO, it would level the playing field for honest manufacturers and service providers. Sure, it would effectively outlaw many types of ads that we see today, but do you think any of the types of ads that rely on hidden fine print are really all that valuable to our economy or society?
- kristopolous 3y ago
  Ok let's take contests. They're void where prohibited and a bunch of other rules apply. Should the odds of winning along with these caveats be stated in the copy? Let's take guarantees and warranties. There's certainly nuances there. Should all those also be disclosed in the main copy? Let's take the main thing here. What if they went out of business? Forever never actually means for perpetuity. All these are obvious? So is the rule to stare everything but the obvious? Who determines that? There's so many practical details that complicate things here In fact, much of these things have made their way into the law a long time ago. Maybe you just want to restrict the freedom of how they can display it?
newjersey 3y ago
If an ad for a depression medicine on the tv has time to say crazy things like “side effects may include depression, […] and death”, I am sure Charter and Comcast have enough time to say that their gigabit coax service is only gigabit for downloads, not for uploads.

richbell 3y ago

Where I live there are several large billboards advertising incredible offers. The fine print is so small I'm not sure it's even possible to read.

dalmo3 3y ago

"terms and conditions apply"