The legal lowdown: Be careful what you 'like'
Finally, entrepreneurs were given some stern advice from Justin Prochnow, an attorney in the Denver office of law firm Greenberg Traurig, about how to avoid getting into legal hot water by making rookie mistakes. Here are some highlights:
- The FDA and the FTC regard your website, marketing materials and ads as extensions of your label: So don’t think you’re off the hook with iffy claims just because they are not on the wrapper.
- Be careful with testimonials: If you quote a consumer saying your product cured his knee pain, it’s the same as if you’re saying it. Whether you can substantiate the claims doesn’t matter, if you even imply that your product can diagnose, prevent, treat or cure a disease, it’s a drug, not a food.
- Be careful what you 'like': If your biggest fans start waxing lyrical on facebook or twitter about how awesome your products are for treating keen pain, and you 'like' or retweet their comments, you are effectively endorsing what they are saying.
- Use an efficacious dose: If your product contains ingredient X and you are making claims about how fantastic it is based on clinical trial data, make sure that the amount you are using in your product is consistent with the amount used in the trials...
- Monitor what affiliates are saying about your products: If an over-enthusiastic sales rep in your multi-level-marketing company is telling consumers your product cures cancer, it's the same as if you are saying it...
Click HERE for highlights from day two of BevNet Live!