Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ADVERTISING NEWS: FTC workshop to inquire into relationship between online content, advertising, (Nov 18, 2013)

The FTC has released a tentative agenda for its workshop on native advertising scheduled to take place on December 4, 2013, in Washington, D.C.

The workshop, entitled “Blurred Lines: Advertising or Content?,” will discuss the manner in which sponsored content is presented to consumers online and in mobile apps, consumers’ recognition and understanding of it, the contexts in which it should be identified as advertising, and effective ways of differentiating it from editorial content. Participants will include publishing and advertising industry representatives, consumer advocates, academics, and self-regulatory organizations.

The workshop will open with welcoming remarks from FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. The remarks will be followed by presentations on “A Historical FTC Perspective: Advertorials, Infomercials, and Paid Endorsements,” by FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection staff attorney Lesley Fair, and “The Wall Between Editorial and Advertising: Its Origins and Purpose,” by Columbia University Professor of Journalism Nicholas Lemann.

After the presentations, a panel discussion on “Sponsored Consent in Digital Publications: The Forms It Takes and How It Operates,” with moderator Laura M. Sullivan, a staff attorney in the FTC Division of Advertising Practices, and panelists Tessa Gould of the Huffington Post; Todd R. Haskell of Hearst Corporation; Lisa LaCour of Outbrain Inc.; Chris Laird of The Procter & Gamble Company; Ash Nashed of Adiant; Adam Ostrow of Mashable, Inc.; and Steve Rubel of Edelman. Following a lunch break, the workshop will proceed with a presentation on “Lessons of Nauru” by Bob Garfield, co-host of On the Media and a MediaPost columnist.

The presentation will be succeeded by a panel discussion on “Consumer Recognition and Understanding of Native Advertisements,” with moderator Michael Ostheimer, a staff attorney in the FTC Division of Advertising Practices, and panelists Jamie Cole of Red Barn Media Group; Michelle De Mooy of Consumer Action; David J. Franklyn, Director of the McCarthy Institute for IP and Technology Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law; Dan Greenberg, Co-Chair of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Native Advertising Taskforce; Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Lecturer in Residence and Director of Information Privacy Programs at the Berkeley Law and Technology Center; and Jeff Johnson of UI Wizards. That discussion will be followed by a panel discussion on “The Way Forward on Transparency: A Discussion of Best Practices,” with moderator Mary K. Engle, Associate Director of the FTC Division of Advertising Practices, and panelists Laura Brett of the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus; Sid Holt of the American Society of Magazine Editors; Amy Ralph Mudge of Venable LLP; Jon Steinberg of Buzzfeed Inc.; Robin Riddle of The Wall Street Journal; Robert Weissman of Public Citizen; and Mike Zaneis of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The workshop will end with closing remarks from FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Jessica Rich.

The workshop will be held at the FTC’s satellite building conference center at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., and will be free and open to the public. Further information about the workshop can be found on its website here.

News: Advertising ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews