Partner Alysa Hutnik was quoted in the Communications Daily article “Fights Over Advertising Claims Among Telcos, ISPs Are on the Rise.” Telco-related ad cases before the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ National Advertising Division (NAD) are up. Over the past two years, NAD has handled 17 telecom product/services cases, 15 of them challenges from competitors to ad claims. The two previous years saw nine such cases before the NAD, eight of them brought by competitors. In the two years before that, there were a total of 10 cases, with nine of them challenges from competitors. NAD said it also generates some cases internally by its own in-house advertising monitoring. Ms. Hutnik noted that growth could point to an increased emphasis on comparative advertising on the differences among options for consumers, now that two-year commitments and early termination fees have given way to more flexible contracts and even competitors paying customers’ early termination fees. She went on to say that, complaints brought to NAD typically get picked up, but companies usually tackle such disputes first more informally with a desist letter or call to the competitor. “You need to make sure your own claims are well tailored [so] that they are not going to likewise fall down on the same charge,” Ms. Hutnik said.

Communications Daily Quotes Partner Alysa Hutnik on the Rise of Telco-Related Ad Cases