Rosewood The Foamy Spot Analysis

I would argue that the advertisement “The Foamy Spot” by Rosewood violates the FTC’s standard on deceptive advertising. A number of rules and suggestions laid out in the FTC Deception Policy Statement and the FTC Policy Statement Regarding Advertising Substantiation Program back up my claim. First off, the FTC Deception Policy Statement says that the Commission declares “unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” such as the ones laid out by Rosewood in this commercial, as unlawful, and “prohibits false ads likely to induce the purchase of food, drugs, devices or cosmetics.” Rosewood makes their consumers believe the Highlites brand of shampoo lathers better than the “ordinary shampoo” with this commercial, when in fact the second test wasn’t
shampoo at all, but instead water and a foaming agent that didn’t contain any soap or ingredients found in shampoo – By directly lying to customers, Rosewood directly deceives consumers, fulfilling this unlawful practice.

The FTC Deception Police Statement states that the Commission will find deception “if there is a representation, omission or practice that is likely to mislead the consumer acting reasonably in the circumstances, to the consumer’s detriment.” The FTC would find deception in this case because there was a representation that was likely to mislead consumers (as most reasonable consumers would have assumed the commercial’s test was accurate and true), and as a result, the consumers would have purchased a product that didn’t live up to it’s promises, thus resulting in the consumer’s detriment.
Additionally, the FTC’s policy on deceptive advertising says that the deceptive practice must be material, meaning it would influence consumer’s purchasing decisions. This commercial is found to be material because their claims – including statements saying their product produces a “thicker, richer lather than ordinary shampoos for longer, deeper cleaning” – would make consumers want to buy their product, thus influencing their purchasing
decisions.

The policy also states that a commercial can show deception by pictures, which is how “The Foamy Spot” commercial deceives its viewers. According to the policy statement, deception by pictures is when pictures or a combination of pictures “create a misleading impression.” By doing so, “the advertisement may violate FTC guidelines.” This commercial uses deception by pictures through the image of the two models using Highlites shampoo and “ordinary shampoo,” or the foam product. This video (a combination of pictures) mislead consumers by making them believe Highlites has a much better lather than other brands, when in fact the commercial didn’t mention that the second model was not using shampoo. This is directly misleading.

When looking at the FTC Policy Statement Regarding Advertising Substantiation Program, it’s clear that “The Foamy Spot” did not have enough substantiation to back up its claims in this commercial.
The FTC Policy Statement says that advertisers must be prepared to substantiate claims with competent, reliable scientific evidence, and that the Commission plans to continue legal requirements enforcing advertisers to substantiate “express and implied claims, however conveyed, that make objective assertions about the item or service advertised.” The express claim in this commercial, which tells consumers that Highlites is a better brand of shampoo and lathers better than other brands, is obviously false. Because the test was not completed with a true “other brand” of shampoo, Rosewood has no substantiation to their claim. They cannot back up the claim because there was no accurate test, and the FTC statement says that a firm’s failure to possess a reasonable basis for objective claims “constitutes [as] an unfair and deceptive act or practice in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission
act.”

Lastly, while mock-ups are allowed by the FTC if they substitute a real product for a fake without calling attention to itself, this is not the case with this commercial. The mock-up for the “other shampoo” directly calls attention to itself because of its underperformance as a shampoo that’s able to lather. The FTC claims that a mock-up is deceptive if it presents evidence, “including a test or demonstration, that purports to prove a fact or product feature that is material to inducing consumers to buy the product but which does not actually prove such fact or product feature.” The test or demonstration in this case – the shampoo comparison test – purports to prove a fact or product feature that is false. In this case, the fact is that the “other brand” of shampoo is much worse at lathering than Highlites, when in fact Highlites wasn’t competing with a shampoo in the test. Therefor, the test does not actually prove a fact or feature. The commercial’s attempt to prove this fact is material because the test acts as proof to consumers that Highlite’s products are better, and as such influence consumers to buy Highlites shampoo instead of other brands.