Advertising and Marketing

Home / Services / Advertising and Marketing
All services
Trademark

Advertising and marketing law guidance that keeps your claims substantiated, your comparative ads defensible, and your influencer campaigns FTC-compliant, while giving you the tools to stop competitors who play dirty.

Advertising sells, but every claim you make is a promise you may have to back up. Unsubstantiated performance claims, sloppy comparisons to a competitor, and undisclosed influencer relationships all draw scrutiny from the FTC, the National Advertising Division, and rivals looking for an opening. We help you market aggressively and stay on the right side of advertising law, then go after the competitors who don't.

Substantiating Your Claims

Before a campaign goes live, we pressure-test the claims behind it. Do you have the testing, data, or expert support to defend "clinically proven," "#1," or a specific performance number? We tell you where the exposure is and how to reword a claim so it still lands with customers without inviting an FTC inquiry or a competitor challenge. Catching weak substantiation before launch is far cheaper than defending it afterward.

Comparative And Competitive Ads

Naming a competitor and showing why you win is one of the most effective tactics in advertising, and one of the riskiest. We structure comparative ads so the comparison is truthful, fairly tested, and not misleading by implication, which keeps your message sharp while limiting false advertising risk. When a rival's ad about you crosses the line, we move the other direction and challenge it.

Influencer And Digital Marketing

Influencer marketing, native ads, and social campaigns carry their own disclosure rules. We build endorsement guidelines, draft influencer agreements, and set up disclosure practices that satisfy the FTC's standards on material connections and honest reviews. We also advise on sweepstakes, contests, email and texting rules, and the platform terms that govern how you run promotions online.

NAD And Lanham Act Disputes

When advertising disputes escalate, you have options. The National Advertising Division offers faster, lower-cost self-regulatory review, and we represent both advertisers and challengers there. For matters that belong in court, we pursue and defend false advertising claims under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, seeking injunctions and damages, or fighting them off when your campaign is the target.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. You need a reasonable basis for a claim before you run it, and the more specific the claim, the more specific your support has to be. Claims about health or safety are held to a higher standard, often requiring competent and reliable scientific evidence. So decide what you can actually back up before you write the copy, not after.

Yes. Truthful comparative advertising is legal and common. The catch is that every comparison has to be accurate, the basis for it has to be fair, and the overall impression can't mislead a reasonable consumer, even if each individual statement is technically true.

NAD is the National Advertising Division, an industry self-regulatory body that reviews advertising claims, often after a competitor challenges them. Its decisions aren't legally binding, but they carry weight, and a company that refuses to comply can be referred to the FTC. It's frequently a faster, cheaper venue than court for resolving an advertising dispute.

Either when a statement is literally false, or when it's literally true but misleading in context. For the misleading category, the question is whether consumers are likely to be deceived, which usually takes survey or other evidence to prove. A competitor harmed by the ad can sue under the Lanham Act.

Generally yes, when you're making a truthful comparison or otherwise referring to their product accurately. Where it goes wrong is using their mark in a way that suggests they sponsor or endorse you, which can be trademark infringement or false endorsement. Keep the reference factual and don't imply a relationship that doesn't exist.

A court can order injunctions to stop the ad, and award damages, the defendant's profits, and in some cases attorneys' fees. Courts can also order corrective advertising to undo the lingering deception. The injunction is often the most painful part, because it can pull a campaign mid-flight.

Our team

Attorneys who can help

Document products

Related document products

Order attorney-drafted documents related to this service.

Browse all products

Let's talk about your advertising and marketing needs.

Get in touch