The truth can be quite painful, when it is actually the truth. Despite the pain and suffering it may cause, however, it is an integral part of marketing and advertising. Although the lines have been blurred between fact and fiction in recent years with exaggerations from advertisers, there is still a legal, compelling stature making it illegal to lie- or even mislead with the truth.
The federal Trade Commission Act is one piece of protection implemented by Congress to protect the American people from these untruths so often visible in advertising. (The Poznak Law Firm further outlines more of the regulations in its Basics in False Advertising.)
A recent campaign ad, released by the republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, may be latest target for legal actions with regards to false advertising. The first TV ad from his campaign, dissected in an article on Adage, has "pulled a blatant fast one (on the public)." Discrepancy occurred when Romney used a clip from then candidate Obama's speech in which he stated that we "need to quit talking about the economy." Mr. Obama did in fact say this. However, he clearly stated it as a quote from republican presidential nominee John McCain in one of his earlier speeches.
Campaigns get ugly. The attacks get vicious, but we must be able to observe these advertisements and commercials knowing they hold some level of truth and integrity. The First Amendment was granted to give us freedom of speech, however, if it is only lies and falsehoods being displayed, how are we as the public any better off or any more protected? The statutes enacted by Congress were done so to give us freedom, freedom to watch an ad or read a magazine knowing that what we are consuming is factual and credible, not filled with deceptions and distortions. Unfortunately, it looks as if Mr. Romney is going to have to recant the title of his book and offer the American people a very large apology.
