Uncategorized
Exploring the Legalities of Amazon Giveaway
March 7, 2015Last month, Amazon launched its “Amazon Giveaway” program. It offers two no frills sweepstakes options to users. The sponsor signs up, chooses the prize, and Amazon does the rest, including offering the sponsor access to Amazon’s vast shipping capabilities. Amazon Giveaway may draw brands away from social media pages for simple sweepstakes, but its one size fits all approach is not right for every advertiser or every sweepstakes. The program makes legal assumptions about sweepstakes law and may leave brands assuming certain legal risks.
Read More...How to Spot Legal Issues in Your Social Media Campaigns
December 16, 2014Social media campaigns come fast and furious, here today and gone tomorrow. Brands may be tempted to skip legal vetting, assuming their offers will fly under the radar of regulators. Even if you don’t have inside counsel, your marketing team should have a vetting system in place. Marketers can learn to spot legal issues and work to reduce risk with outside counsel. Here are twelve laws with which social media marketers should be familiar when deciding when to turn to legal counsel.
Read More...Legal Rules for Cause Marketing
July 7, 2014Cause marketing is a popular technique for promoting sales. Brands frequently advertise that they donate a percentage of sales to a charitable cause, particularly using social media to spread the word of their good deeds. In so doing, brands become a co-venturer with the charity and have certain legal obligations under a wide variety of charitable solicitation laws.
Read More...Why Contest Hashtags Can Get You in #LegalTrouble
April 17, 2014Cause marketing is a popular technique for promoting sales. Brands frequently advertise that they donate a percentage of sales to a charitable cause, particularly using social media to spread the word of their good deeds. In so doing, brands become a co-venturer with the charity and have certain legal obligations under a wide variety of charitable solicitation laws.
Read More...The Why’s of Exclusive Art Licensing Arrangements
March 25, 2014In any contract negotiation, if the goal is to reach an agreement, both parties should consider the “why” of their positions. Contracts typically address the who, what, when, and where, but they rarely address the “why” in more than a perfunctory manner with a few broad “whereas” clauses. At the same time, when parties are stuck in their negotiations (either before they enter into a contract or during the contract), if they consider the “why” behind their positions, they are more likely to reach consensus.
Read More...How to Avoid Legal Complaints about Consumer Contests
March 13, 2014Consumers love sweepstakes, but they hate being deceived by illegal and false promises of prizes. Once again, the FTC has released its annual list of Top Consumer Complaint areas. In 2013, “Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries” ranked sixth with 89,944 complaints. While the category fell from third place in 2011, the number of actual complaints remained similar, hovering near 100,000 complaints.
Read More...