[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR255.0]

[Page 173-174]
 
                     TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
 
                   CHAPTER I--FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
 
PART 255_GUIDES CONCERNING USE OF ENDORSEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS IN 
ADVERTISING--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 255.0  Definitions.




Sec.
255.0 Definitions.
255.1 General considerations.
255.2 Consumer endorsements.
255.3 Expert endorsements.
255.4 Endorsements by organizations.
255.5 Disclosure of material connections.

    Authority: 38 Stat. 717, as amended; 15 U.S.C. 41-58.


    (a) The Commission intends to treat endorsements and testimonials 
identically in the context of its enforcement of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act and for purposes of this part. The term

[[Page 174]]

endorsements is therefore generally used hereinafter to cover both terms 
and situations.
    (b) For purposes of this part, an endorsement means any advertising 
message (including verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of 
the name, signature, likeness or other identifying personal 
characteristics of an individual or the name or seal of an organization) 
which message consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, 
beliefs, findings, or experience of a party other than the sponsoring 
advertiser. The party whose opinions, beliefs, findings, or experience 
the message appears to reflect will be called the endorser and may be an 
individual, group or institution.
    (c) For purposes of this part, the term product includes any 
product, service, company or industry.
    (d) For purposes of this part, an expert is an individual, group or 
institution possessing, as a result of experience, study or training, 
knowledge of a particular subject, which knowledge is superior to that 
generally acquired by ordinary individuals.

    Example 1: A film critic's review of a movie is excerpted in an 
advertisement. When so used, the review meets the definition of an 
endorsement since it is viewed by readers as a statement of the critic's 
own opinions and not those of the film producer, distributor or 
exhibitor. Therefore, any alteration in or quotation from the text of 
the review which does not fairly reflect its substance would be a 
violation of the standards set by this part.
    Example 2: A TV commercial depicts two women in a supermarket buying 
a laundry detergent. The women are not identified outside the context of 
the advertisement. One comments to the other how clean her brand makes 
her family's clothes, and the other then comments that she will try it 
because she has not been fully satisfied with her own brand. This 
obvious fictional dramatization of a real life situation would not be an 
endorsement.
    Example 3: In an advertisement for a pain remedy, an announcer who 
is not familiar to consumers except as a spokesman for the advertising 
drug company praises the drug's ability to deliver fast and lasting pain 
relief. He purports to speak, not on the basis of his own opinions, but 
rather in the place of and on behalf of the drug company. Such an 
advertisement would not be an endorsement.
    Example 4: A manufacturer of automobile tires hires a well known 
professional automobile racing driver to deliver its advertising message 
in television commercials. In these commercials, the driver speaks of 
the smooth ride, strength, and long life of the tires. Even though the 
message is not expressly declared to be the personal opinion of the 
driver, it may nevertheless constitute an endorsement of the tires. Many 
consumers will recognize this individual as being primarily a racing 
driver and not merely a spokesman or announcer for the advertiser. 
Accordingly, they may well believe the driver would not speak for an 
automotive product unless he/she actually believed in what he/she was 
saying and had personal knowledge sufficient to form that belief. Hence 
they would think that the advertising message reflects the driver's 
personal views as well as those of the sponsoring advertiser. This 
attribution of the underlying views to the driver brings the 
advertisement within the definition of an endorsement for purposes of 
this part.
    Example 5: A television advertisement for golf balls shows a 
prominent and well-recognized professional golfer hitting the golf 
balls. This would be an endorsement by the golfer even though he makes 
no verbal statement in the advertisement.

[40 FR 22128, May 21, 1975, as amended at 45 FR 3872, Jan. 18, 1980]