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Labor laws exist to balance the bargaining power of employees and to maintain a working relationship between the employer and the employees. The law deals particularly with the groups’ relationship and common issues that arise. Disputes arise when employers fail to address emplyees’ concerns, like for example, wages and benefits. Sometimes work grievances. When things like these happen, they run to labor law references to rectify the issues they feel have been violated.
Some common laws violated by employers:
Wages and Hours - standard for the wages and overtime pay
Safety and Health in the Workplace - conditions in the place of work
Workplace Compensation - medical care and benefits
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“World No Tobacco Day” was celebrated on May 31, 2008. On this occasion, The World Health Organization or WHO strongly urged the governments to impose a Total Ad Ban. Citing that the tobacco industry is continuing to target younger generations through covert marketing strategies. The Internet is basically being used to promote their product disguised or associating them with fame, sophistication and sex appeal. WHO says that the total ban is the only way to protect our children.
Advertising hugely contributes to a product’s success. Cigarette consumption in particular, have been greatly reduced through the ad bans by as much as 16%. A great step in totally eradicating cigarette addiction most especially with minors.
Advertising Ban
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Labor law violations are considered a serious matter and are punishable by law. Employees must know what their rights are and how to assert them in the workplace.
Here are just a few of the important rights that employees must be aware of:
- The right to be protected from any form of discrimination - the term “discrimination” is a very broad term and encompasses a wide aspect of our lives. No person should be discriminated at work because of his/her sex, gender, sexual preference, pregnancy, beliefs, age, disability, etc.
- The right to a harassment-free workplace - everyone deserves to work in a place where one would feel safe from any form of harassment
- The right to fair pay - there are a lot of laws that protect your right to be paid no less than the minimum wage, to be paid a premium for working overtime or over the usual maximum amount of hours per week.
Labor laws are passed and amended in every state and every nation for the protection of the rights of human beings in their ability as workers, wage earners or members of the work force. Classification of workers varies extensively depending on the type of industry that is being covered. However, there are some universal practices that apply no matter what industry you fall under like minimum wage, good working conditions, fair labor practices for women and children and the likes.
The advertising industry is no exception to this. One of the things that distinguish the advertising industry from other forms of businesses is that it actually is part and parcel of every other business endeavor. And since the advertising industry uses more mediums than any other industry, it also has the widest range of labor workforce and falls under all legislation dealing with human labor.
Laws governing advertising differ depending on the media used. The Internet currently has the widest reach of all. Due to the flexibility of this medium to host video, text, audio, pictures and others, it is doubly important that they implement rules to ensure that consumer protection.
Sellers are responsible and accountable for the claims made by the services or products they present. Liabilities are not however limited to them. Third parties such as marketers, website designers and advertising agencies are liable for making false statements. Advertising must not mislead and claims must be substantiated is the basic premise to follow.
Free items are promotional devices used to attract customers. When a product has a free offer, the price of the pruchased product must not be increased from its regular price. Besides that, if a product is “free” or offered at a lower cost along with the purchase of another item, the advertisement must clearly disclose all terms and conditions of the promotion. Important information like terms affecting the offer’s cost must be placed near the advertised price.
Advertisements promoting rebates should state the before-rebate price and the amoung of the rebate. This way, consumers have the information they need to make comparisons. Rebate ads should also disclose other conditions and terms including additional fees and when consumers should expect to receive the rebate.
The FTC’s regulations on endorsements state that all endorsements made by celebrities or experts should reflect his or her honest opinion or experience of the product, and not just the experience of a few satisfied customers. The endorsement should not contain any deceptive, unsubstantiated representations. The ad must also disclose if consumers can expect the same results or limited results as the endorser’s experience.
For expert endorsements, the endorser must meet certain qualifications before he or she is considered an expert in the field. Simply being an expert, however, isn’t enough. There has to be an actual evaluation or product testing other experts would normally conduct to support the concludes made in the expert endorsement.
Advertisements on the Internet are subject to the same laws as traditional advertising. All claims made on Internet advertisements have to be substantiated and truthful. Advertisers also need to be aware of privacy issues in internet marketing. The FTC encourages marketers and companies to implement four fair information practices:
1) Give consumers notice about the website’s information practices
2) Offer consumers the choice as to how their identifying information can be used by the website
3) Provide consumers with access to the private information the website collected about them
4) Ensure the security of all private information collected
Marketers also need to be aware of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires verifiable parental consent before using, collecting, or disclosing any personal information about minors.
Ad agencies behind infomercials must need proof that will back up all implied and express claims made by the advertisement about the product. Besides that, the infomercial must not deliberately copy the format of talk shows, news reports, or other independent programs. The FTC also requires that the ad agencies disclose that the program is a paid advertisement during the start of the infomercial and before the ordering information is shown. Since most infomercials feature endorsements from experts and consumers, the FTC also has regulations about the use of endorsements and testimonials. Should the infomercial fail to comply with the FTC’s regulation, the manufacturer and marketer are both held liable.
The Federal Trade Commission Act can impose the following penalties on a deceptive ad, depending on the nature of the violation.
Cease and desist. This legally-binding order requires the company to stop running the ad and/or the practice, to pay a fine of $11,000 per day if the company violates the law, to have substantiation for any claims made in future ads and to report these to the FTC.
Civil penalties. This can range from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the violation. Some advertisers give partial or full refunds to those who purchased their product.
Corrective advertising. Advertisers are required by the law to take down the new ad, correct the misleading information, notify consumers about the deceptive claims, and include disclosures in future ads.