A Rose By Any Other Name . . . Would Probably Violate the FTC Act: 

Shakespeare, the FTC, and Advertising

Remarks of FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez

Before the American Advertising Federation

April 17, 2013

Washington, DC

It is a pleasure to be here today to talk about the FTC’s approach to advertising; how we 

are adapting to our increasingly digital world; green marketing; and the efforts to develop a Do 

Not Track system. Because these topics are vitally important, I will try to cover them heeding 

the counsel of Hamlet’s mother: “More matter with less art.”

I call on Shakespeare this morning because next week is the 449th anniversary of his 

birth. If any point is worth making, he has made it, and as succinctly and eloquently as it can be 

made.

As I considered my remarks today, the famous Shakespearean phrase that struck me was 

“spotless reputation,” which comes from Richard II. Bolingbrook, the future Henry the Fourth, 

accuses Mowbray, a fellow duke, of treason (among other crimes) in front of the king, who 

would very much like the spat to blow over. But Mowbray will have none of it, explaining that 

he cannot let the attacks on his character stand. He says:

The purest treasure mortal times afford

Is spotless reputation—that away,

Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.

Of course, you already know this. As advertisers, your reputation – your brand – is 

everything. And, in fact, you know it better than most, because you pursue a spotless reputation

for yourself and for the clients whose reputations you broadcast out into the wide world.
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At the FTC, our work to promote truthful advertising and protect consumer privacy 

dovetails with your mission to promote the spotless reputations of your clients and your own 

firms. We aim to provide consumers with the information they need to make informed decisions 

about their purchases and exercise control over their personal data. It is self-evident that this is 

good for consumers. But it also benefits honest competitors, well-functioning markets, and 

commercial growth. Honesty and transparency are essential to maintaining a positive brand. 

Sooner or later, deceptive and opaque practices damage a firm’s most important asset – its 

reputation. And from that, a business may never recover, no matter how clever its ad copy or 

eye-catching its graphics. 

Further, deceptive practices do more than harm the spotless reputation of the offending 

company. Consumers may lose faith in an entire industry or sales medium if advertising 

frequently misleads or companies hide information about their products or business practices. 

By encouraging businesses to be above-board in their advertising and privacy practices, the FTC 

promotes the consumer trust and confidence that are essential to a thriving, growing marketplace.

We do this proactively and devote substantial resources to educating businesses on how 

to comply with the law and on best practices that may go beyond what the law requires. This 

year, the FTC has turned its focus to the mobile environment. 

It has been aptly said that “the future of mobile is the future of everything.”1

 Today, 

there are twice as many mobile devices sold as personal computers.2 Spending on mobile 

 1 Dan Frommer, “The Future of Mobile is the Future of Everything,” BUSINESS INSIDER, June 6, 2011, available at 

http://www.businessinsider.com/future-of-mobile-experts-2011-6?op=1.

2 Henry Blodget & Alex Cocotas, The Future of Mobile, BUSINESS INSIDER, Mar. 27, 2013, available at

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-future-of-mobile-slide-deck-2013-3?op=1.
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advertising is projected to rise by 77 percent to roughly $7.3 billion this year,

3 and an expected 

$27.13 billion by 2017, just shy of 45 percent of all digital ad revenue.4

 Finally, there are over 

one million mobile apps available today, and consumers spend more time on them than they do 

on the mobile web.5

 

In light of this, the FTC recently issued a report on best practices in the realm of privacy 

disclosures by mobile operating systems, apps and ad networks, and analytics companies – all of 

which get access to consumer data through devices that are always with us and always on.

6

 We 

stress the importance of platforms, which are the gatekeepers to the mobile marketplace. For 

example, we encourage platforms to ensure that apps give just-in-time notice and get express 

affirmative consent before they access location data, health and financial information, contacts, 

address books, calendars, photos, and videos.

We hope our report will inform the current efforts of a wide spectrum of stakeholders, led 

by the Department of Commerce, to develop a self-regulatory code of conduct on mobile

transparency. The FTC strongly supports meaningful self-regulation in general and the 

Department of Commerce process in particular. That undertaking has already made substantial

progress in a short period, and we encourage stakeholders to move towards finalizing a code of 

conduct. 

 3

 Amy Gesenhues, EMarketer: Google Still Owns Mobile Ad Market, But Facebook Has Largest Share Of Mobile 

Display Ad Dollars, MARKETINGLAND, Apr. 4, 2013, available at http://marketingland.com/emarketer-google-totake-more-than-half-of-mobile-advertising-dollars-but-facebook-will-win-majority-of-mobile-display-market38937. 

4 Id.

5 The Future of Mobile, supra note 2.

6 FTC Staff, Mobile Privacy Disclosures: Building Trust Through Transparency (Feb. 1, 2013), available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/02/130201mobileprivacyreport.pdf. 
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Soon after the FTC issued its report on mobile privacy disclosures, we updated our Dot 

Com Disclosures, which provide guidance on how to reveal key information in digital 

advertising.7

 The original Dot Com Disclosures were released in 2000 – back when we were just 

grateful that our phones were cordless and “facebook” referred to the printed guide to your 

freshman class. It was time for a refresh. 

The new guidance makes clear that consumer protection laws apply to ads on a PC, a 

mobile phone, Twitter, or a social network in the same way those laws apply to ads in print, 

radio, or TV. As before, our guidance comes down to common sense. If you were a consumer, 

what would it take for you to notice and understand a disclaimer? Would you click through 

multiple links just to find information?

If information is needed to prevent an ad from being deceptive, the information must be 

included, and it must be clear and conspicuous. This applies to the small screen of a mobile 

device or the 140 characters in a tweet. If a platform does not let you make a clear and 

conspicuous disclosure when one is required, then the platform should not be used. Period.

When disclosures can be made, they should be “as close as possible” to the claims they 

qualify – not relegated to the “terms of use” and other contractual agreements. When practical, 

advertisers should incorporate qualifying information into the underlying claim rather than 

having a separate disclosure. The screen design should alert consumers that there is more 

information available, and advertisers should consider how the page will display on different 

devices. We caution against making consumers scroll down or over to see a disclosure. But if 

 7 FTC Staff, .Com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising (Mar. 12, 2013), 

available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/03/130312dotcomdisclosures.pdf. 
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scrolling is necessary, it should, at minimum, be unavoidable, meaning consumers can’t go

forward with a transaction without viewing the disclosure. 

As in the original guidance, we call on advertisers to avoid using hyperlinks for 

disclosures of product cost or certain health and safety issues. The new guidelines also ask 

advertisers to label hyperlinks as specifically as possible, and they caution advertisers to consider 

how their hyperlinks will function on various programs and devices. 

“What's in a name?” asks Juliet, in Romeo and Juliet’s famous balcony scene, “that 

which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” At the FTC, we don’t mind what 

you call that rose, as long as you use easy-to-find, easy-to-understand disclosures to document 

claims and provide essential information about its sweet smell.

Of course, if Juliet were to deliver her soliloquy today, she might amend it to talk about a 

rose that not only smells sweet but is also grown organically with no petroleum-based inputs, 

free of pesticides, and with the tiniest of carbon footprints. These days, green roses trump red 

roses every time. As a native of California – where the environmental movement first took 

hold – I have been seeing green marketing claims for years. But such advertising is now truly 

mainstream.

Last fall, in response to this trend, the FTC updated its Green Guides, which help 

marketers ensure that their environmental claims are not deceptive.

8 In preparation for that, we 

researched the impact of broad green advertising claims. We found that consumers hear general 

assertions about a product’s eco-friendliness as statements that an item has no negative impact on 

 8 See FTC Press Release, FTC Issues Revised “Green Guides,” Oct. 1, 2012, available at

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/10/greenguides.shtm; Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, 77 Fed. 

Reg. 62122 (Oct.11, 2012). 
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the environment. Because it’s highly unlikely that a marketer can substantiate such an expansive 

claim, the revised guides caution against painting a product green with a broad brush. Rather, 

advertisers should use clear and prominent language that limits the claim to a specific benefit or 

benefits that can be understood and backed up. And they shouldn’t imply that any specific 

benefit is significant if it is, in fact, minor. 

We also found that, if a certification or seal of approval used in an ad does not convey the 

basis for the recognition, either through the name or some other means, consumers will believe 

the product offers a general environmental benefit. Again, our research showed that it is very 

improbable that marketers can substantiate such broad claims. So advertisers should avoid 

environmental certifications or seals that are not clear about the basis for the certification. 

The updated Green Guides also address the brave new world (another term coined by 

Shakespeare, by the way – this time in The Tempest) of renewable energy claims. Our research 

showed that advertisers need to be careful in touting that a product or package was ‘‘made with 

renewable energy.” Such claims can be misleading unless the main processes used to make the 

product or package were powered with either renewable energy or non-renewable energy backed

by renewable energy certificates. Otherwise, marketers should clearly specify the percentage of 

renewable energy that powered the manufacture of the product or package.

The FTC recently lodged complaints against Neiman Marcus and two other retailers that 

demonstrate what a brave new world the realm of green advertising truly is.9 We charged these 

companies with violating the Fur Products Labeling Act, legislation passed in 1951, when 

consumers wanted to make sure that the fur coats they were shelling out for were more mink 

 9 See FTC Press Release, Retailers Agree to Settle FTC Charges They Marketed Real Fur Products as Fake Fur, 

Mar. 19, 2013, available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/03/neiman.shtm. 
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than mouse. Today, it is just the opposite – high-end shoppers often demand faux over fox. We 

called out Neiman Marcus for describing several articles of clothing as containing only fake fur 

when, in actuality, they were made in part of the real thing. Neiman Marcus, as well as the two 

other retailers, DrJays.com and Revolve Clothing, have agreed to settlements that will, over the 

next 20 years, punish future violations with fines of up to $16,000 per incident. 

Quite a “sea change,” as Ariel, a character in The Tempest, first said.

While the words of Shakespeare are some of the most beautiful and pithy in the English 

language, he has also stayed so firmly woven into our discourse because of the themes he 

explored. Of course, one of Shakespeare’s favorite themes – one that appears in almost every

play – is identity, and most particularly, the consequences of mistaken identity. There isn’t a 

comedy he wrote that doesn’t depend on that conceit. But so do many of his tragedies, including

Romeo and Juliet. Those star-crossed lovers would have never died were it not for a massive 

miscommunication and misunderstanding about Juliet’s health status and intentions. Which 

makes Romeo and Juliet a cautionary tale about the dangers of losing control over how others

perceive you. 

And that brings me to Do Not Track. Consumer data is the currency of the Web. 

Targeted advertising helps enable free content and services for consumers. But the amount of 

behavioral data collected and how it is used are hidden from the very consumers who are tracked 

and analyzed. 
8

That is not a long-term recipe for success. Consumers regularly report unease with

online tracking.10 And marketers acknowledge that consumer trust is vital to their success.11 

Online publishers complain that they lack knowledge or control over the entities that collect 

consumer data from their sites and how that data is used downstream.12 And the profusion of 

tracking cookies on websites can slow down the loading of web pages, which can cause 

advertising conversion rates to plummet.13 

 10 See, e.g., Meredith Whipple, CR Survey Finds That Most Consumers Are Still “Very Concerned” About Online 

Privacy, CONSUMERS UNION BLOG, Apr. 3, 2012, http://hearusnow.org/posts/1055-cr-survey-finds-that-mostconsumers-are-still-very-concerned-about-online-privacy; David Sarno, Tech Firms’ Data Gathering Worries Most 

Californians, Poll Finds, L.A. TIMES, Mar. 31, 2012, available at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-privacypoll-20120331,0,2763981.story; KRISTEN PURCELL ET AL., PEW INTERNET AND AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT, SEARCH 

ENGINE USE 2012 18-26 (2012), available at

http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Search_Engine_Use_2012.pdf; Ki Mae Heussner, 

Divorcees, Southerners Most Concerned About Web Privacy, 90 Percent Of Online Adults Worry About Privacy 

Online, Study Shows, AD WEEK, Feb. 12, 2012, available at http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/divorceessoutherners-most-concerned-about-web-privacy-138185; Lymari Morales, Google and Facebook Users Skew 

Young, Affluent, and Educated, GALLUP, Feb. 17, 2011, available at http://www.gallup.com/poll/146159/facebookgoogle-users-skew-young-affluenteducatedaspx. 

11 See, e.g., RESEARCH: Consumers Feel Better About Brands That Give Them Transparency and Control Over 

Ads, EVIDON BLOG, Nov. 10, 2010, http://blog.evidon.com/tag/better-advertising; Interactive Advertising Bureau, 

Press Release, Major Marketing/Media Trade Groups Launch Program to Give Consumers Enhanced Control Over 

Collection and Use of Web Viewing Data for Online Behavioral Advertising, Oct. 4, 2010, available at

http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/pr-1004100; Statement 

of Pam Horan President, Online Publishers Association, before the House Energy and Commerce Subcomm. on 

Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, Balancing Privacy and Innovation: Does the President’s Proposal Tip the 

Scale? (Mar. 29, 2012), available at 

http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/files/Hearings/CMT/20120329/HH

RG-112-IF17-WState-PHoran-20120329.pdf; Statement of John M. Montgomery, GroupM Interaction, The State of 

Online Consumer Privacy, Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Commerce, Sci., and Transp., 112th Cong. (Mar. 16, 

2011), available at http://www.iab.net/media/file/DC1DOCS1-432016-v1-John_Montgomery_-

_Written_Testimony.pdf (“We at GroupM strongly believe in protecting consumer privacy. It is not only the right 

thing to do, but it is also good for business.”); Statement of Alan Davidson, Director of Public Policy, Google Inc., 

Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy, Hearing Before the S. 

Subcomm. on Privacy, Tech., and the Law, 112th Cong. (May 10, 2011), available at

http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/11-5-10%20Davidson%20Testimony.pdf (“Protecting privacy and security is 

essential for Internet commerce.”). 

12 John Sternberg, On Privacy, Publishers Prefer the Sideline, DIGIDAY, May 12, 2012, available at 

http://www.digiday.com/publishers/on-privacy-publishers-prefer-the-sideline/. 

13 Evidon, The Value of Revealing the Invisible Web, Sept. 11, 2012, available at

http://www.slideshare.net/fmsignal/the-value-of-uncovering-the-invisible-web (noting a one second delay in page 

load time can result in a seven percent decline in conversion, citing data from Wal-Mart).
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In late 2010, when the FTC first called for Do Not Track, consumers had very few tools 

for controlling online tracking. There was no effective counterweight to the growing pressure on 

marketers to collect and analyze more and more consumer data. We therefore advocated the 

creation of a persistent Do Not Track mechanism that would apply across industry to all types of 

tracking; be easy to find and use; be effective and enforceable; and allow consumers to stop the 

collection of nearly all behavioral data gathered across sites and not just the serving of targeted 

ads.14 

Our call for Do Not Track set off a burst of activity. All major browsers now permit their 

users to send out an instruction not to track them across websites, and major online publishers

like Twitter and the Associated Press have welcomed this development.

15 The Digital 

Advertising Alliance has widely deployed an icon-based opt-out system and last year at the 

White House promised to honor browser-based opt-outs.16 Microsoft has turned the Do Not 

Track setting on by default in Internet Explorer 10.17 Apple has implemented a “Limit Ad 

 14 See, e.g., Fed. Trade Comm’n, Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: Recommendations for 

Businesses and Policymakers 52-55 (Mar. 26, 2012), available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2012/03/120326privacyreport.pdf; Prepared Statement of the Federal Trade Commission on 

Do Not Track (Dec. 2, 2010), available at http://ftc.gov/os/testimony/101202donottrack.pdf. 

15 Nick Bilton, Twitter Implements Do Not Track Privacy Option, N.Y. TIMES, May 17, 2012, available at

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/twitter-implements-do-not-track-privacy-option/; Hayley Tsukayama, AP 

Adopts Mozilla’s Do Not Track Header, WASH. POST, Mar. 31, 2011, available at 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/faster-forward/post/ap-adopts-mozillas-do-not-trackheader/2011/03/31/AF557R9B_blog.html.

16 Press Release, Digital Advertising Alliance, DAA Position on Browser Based Choice Mechanism, Feb. 22, 2012, 

available at http://www.aboutads.info/resource/download/DAA.Commitment.pdf. 

17 Brendon Lynch, Advancing Consumer Trust and Privacy: Internet Explorer in Windows 8, MICROSOFT BLOG,

May 31, 2012, http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2012/05/31/advancing-consumer-trustand-privacy-internet-explorer-in-windows-8.aspx. 
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Tracking” feature for its mobile devices.18 And Mozilla has recently begun to test blocking 

third-party cookies by default.19

I am pleased that so many have responded to the FTC’s call for greater consumer control

over online tracking. But consumers still await an effective and functioning Do Not Track 

system, which is now long overdue. The Tracking Protection Group of the World Wide Web 

Consortium (or W3C) has been working for some time to develop a self-regulatory Do Not 

Track standard. Ad networks, analytics companies, web publishers, browsers, social networks, 

and privacy groups have been involved in that ongoing effort. The differing viewpoints and 

interests of this broad range of stakeholders create undeniable challenges, but they also offer the 

potential of an enduring and broad solution. 

I urge all stakeholders to take advantage of this venue to work toward consensus on a Do 

Not Track tool that gives consumers effective and meaningful privacy protection. This includes 

both the websites that permit ad networks to track consumers on their sites and the companies 

who pay for their ads to be targeted with the resulting behavioral data. Web publishers and 

advertisers are every much as part of the ecosystem as the ad networks and the browsers and they 

should continue to actively engage on this issue.

These are heady days in the online and mobile world, and the market in personal data 

collected through tracking is some of the reason for that. One can forgive stakeholders for 

thinking that it will always be so – for believing that “not all the water in the rough rude sea can 

wash” the shine off this cyber-economy. But an online advertising system that breeds consumer 

 18 Daniel Eran Dilger, Apple Adds New "Limit Ad Tracking" Feature to iOS 6, APPLE INSIDER, Sep. 12, 2013, 

available at http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/13/apple_adds_new_limit_ad_tracking_feature_to_ios_6.

19 Alex Fowler, Firefox to Get Smarter About Third-Party Cookies, MOZILLA PRIVACY BLOG, Feb. 25, 2013, 

http://blog.mozilla.org/privacy/2013/02/25/firefox-getting-smarter-about-third-party-cookies/. 
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discomfort is not a foundation for sustained growth. More likely, it is an invitation to Congress 

and other policymakers in the U.S. and abroad to intervene with legislation or regulation and for 

technical measures by browsers or others to limit tracking. 

I therefore urge all players in the online advertising ecosystem to dive into the W3C 

process with good faith and a resolution to hammer out their differences to develop a transparent 

Internet advertising system that meets the needs of consumers and advertisers alike. If that 

happens, and I believe it can, I hope to join you again next year for Shakespeare’s 450th birthday 

– this time with a speech titled “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

Thank you.