Standards for Advertising Regulation

Abstract

DURING the past 38 years the Federal Trade Commission has been concerned with the protection of the consumer against abuses by businessmen preoccupied with maximizing their profits. This task has repeatedly met with the approval of consumerists and the disapproval of the business community. The protection of FTC has been extended to the public,' later interpreted as vast multitude which includes the ignorant, the unthinking, and the credulous, who in making purchases do not stop to analyze, but are governed by appearances and general impressions.2 This interpretation of the type of individual protected by the FTC against deceptive practices has been commonly referred to as the least reasonable man principle. (Since the FTC and the courts keep referring to a man, rather than a person or he/she, we are legally bound to do the same!) Past FTC action has shown that the Commis-