[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR255.4]

[Page 177]
 
                     TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
 
                   CHAPTER I--FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
 
PART 255_GUIDES CONCERNING USE OF ENDORSEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS IN 
ADVERTISING--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 255.4  Endorsements by organizations.

    Endorsements by organizations, especially expert ones, are viewed as 
representing the judgment of a group whose collective experience exceeds 
that of any individual member, and whose judgments are generally free of 
the sort of subjective factors which vary from individual to individual. 
Therefore an organization's endorsement must be reached by a process 
sufficient to ensure that the endorsement fairly reflects the collective 
judgment of the organization. Moreover, if an organization is 
represented as being expert, then, in conjunction with a proper exercise 
of its expertise in evaluating the product under Sec. 255.3 of this 
part (Expert endorsements), it must utilize an expert or experts 
recognized as such by the organization or standards previously adopted 
by the organization and suitable for judging the relevant merits of such 
products.

    Example: A mattress seller advertises that its product is endorsed 
by a chiropractic association. Since the association would be regarded 
as expert with respect to judging mattresses, its endorsement must be 
supported by an expert evaluation by an expert or experts recognized as 
such by the organization, or by compliance with standards previously 
adopted by the organization and aimed at measuring the performance of 
mattresses in general and not designed with the particular attributes of 
the advertised mattress in mind. (See also Sec. 255.3, Example 5.)


[Guide 4]

[40 FR 22128, May 21, 1975]