Archive for the 'Advertising' Category
Canadian Marketing Association – 2012 CMA Summit
MAY 16 – 17 2012
The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) will be holding its 2012 Summit entitled Connections: Listen, Engage, Measure in Toronto from May 16 – 17 2012.
From the CMA:
“Marketing is about connecting. Connecting with consumers, connecting with customers, connecting with each other. The CMA Summit 2012 (formerly the CMA National Convention) is all about Connections. How these connections are made, maintained and measured.
Learn from world-class speakders (keynote and workshop), visionaries, tactical experts, leading-edge strategists and marketing miracle workers who will help you find your way in an ever-changing business environment. Give yourself the greatest advantage over your competitors knowledge!
Network with the who’s who of the marketing world. Make important business connections with clients, suppliers, competitors and peers. This summit brings the marketing world together in one convenient place!”
For more see:
Connections: Listen, Engage, Measure
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In a recent case that nearly escaped our attention, given that we’re usually following Competition Act developments, Health Canada’s tobacco inspectors seized more than 25 million units of little cigars and other tobacco products apparently destined for little people.
According to the Government, it wanted to “send a strong message that marketing tobacco to children and youth is unacceptable.”
MARCH 27, 2012 – Toronto
Advertising Standards Canada (“ASC”) will be holding an introductory seminar relating to its Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, “Canada’s principal instrument of advertising regulation.”
The Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) and other Canadian regulatory authorities have markedly increased their enforcement of misleading advertising in the past several years. The following is a brief summary of some of the penalties imposed (or agreed to pursuant to settlement agreements) in Canadian advertising and marketing law cases.
Moses & Singer LLP (New York) recently published what I thought was a rather fine comparative law article on greenwashing, entitled The Greenwashing Domino Effect, which includes a discussion of pro-active regulatory steps being taken in Canada.
The Greenwashing Domino Effect
– By Devika Kewalramani & Richard J. Sobelsohn (first published on Thomson Reuters News & Insight; reprinted with permission)
Look at these labels: “Eco-Friendly,” “Organic,” “Natural” and “Green.” Do they say what they mean and mean what they say?
WHAT IS “GREENWASHING”?
“Greenwashing” is a novel word that merges the concepts of “green” (environmentally sound), and “whitewashing” (to gloss over wrongdoing), to describe the deceptive use of green marketing that promotes a misleading perception that a company’s policies, practices, products or services are environmentally friendly. “Greenwashing” officially became part of the English language in 1999 with its entry into the Oxford English Dictionary. It defines the term as “disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.” The term is generally used when an organization expends more time and resources marketing their “greenness” than actually adopting procedures that are environmentally beneficial. It includes the practice of misleading customers regarding the environmental advantages of a specific product or service through deceptive advertising and unsubstantiated claims.
By Michelle Chan – Consumer Protection BC
– Reprinted with permission
Now that all the New Year festivities have died down and we are making our way through the first weeks of 2012, here is an overview of the Top 10 Scams to watch out for. This list was created in collaboration with Consumer Protection BC, the Better Business Bureau of the Lower Mainland and the BC Crime Prevention Association.
1. Brand Spoofing. Brand spoofing (aka “phishing”) happens when scammers create false website or send consumers e-mails or text messages from what appear to be well-known and trusted businesses. When a consumer provides information to these fake sources, scammers gain access to private information such as SIN numbers or bank PIN numbers.
By William Wu (Centre for Innovation Law and Policy)
Google has announced its new privacy policy, which will take effect on March 1. Google is doing away with the over 60 different existing privacy policies for its various products and replacing them with one single shorter and simpler privacy policy.
Those who are most affected by this change are people with Google accounts. Under the new privacy policy, if a user is signed in to the Google account, Google will be able to collect and combine user information from across its various products and services. For example, Google will be able to collect and analyze your search terms on the Google search engine and suggest related videos when you next go onto YouTube. This will enable Google to form fuller and more comprehensive user profiles. As Google emphasized in its announcement, this change will allow it “to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.”
I saw this rather fine note recently by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP (Anita Banicevic, Erika Douglas and David Stolow). We are reprinting it with permission.
Businesses operating in Canada should be aware of a recent trend towards greater regulation and enforcement action surrounding pricing representations where additional costs are not clearly disclosed up front. Last week, the Minister of State for Transport announced that the Canada Transportation Agency is proceeding with regulations to require Canadian air carriers to include all fees, charges and taxes in advertised prices. This trend towards requiring up-front disclosure of all fees and charges in any advertised pricing is consistent with the enforcement initiatives recently undertaken by the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) as well as the approach taken in recent class actions involving pricing representations brought in Québec and Ontario. The Bureau’s aggressive enforcement approach combined with an increase in class actions concerning pricing representations suggests it may be prudent for businesses to consider disclosing all fees imposed by the seller and applicable to all customers up front in any advertising.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
