'But I'm Not the Only One... Isn't a Legal Defense

摘要

How many of you have been pulled over for speeding just moments after a fast, expensive sports car (driven by a good-looking guy who still has all his hair) has passed you like you were standing still? Did you tell the officer who stopped you about the guy in the sports car, and complain about how unfair it was that you got pulled over and he didn't? Did it do you any good? I didn't think so. If "Family Feud" had a category titled "Excuses that direct response advertisers give to their lawyers when they don't play by the rules," the No. 1 answer would be, "But all my competitors do that!" Talk to the hand, folks, because the judge isn't listening. One popular marketing technique that is often misused is the "free" offer. Economists are fond of saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and most of them would probably say there's no such thing as a truly free DR offer. A federal judge recently approved a consent order settling the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) allegations that Think All Publishing was guilty of a deceptive "free" offer. According to the FTC, the defendants' Web site offered consumers a free CD containing computer software if they agreed to pay a shipping-and-handling fee of $ 1.99 to $2.99. Literal-minded people may believe that "free" should mean "free" - but the government usually lets you get away with attaching strings (like a shipping-and-handling fee) to "free" offers as long as you disclose them.