In Sweden, whose culture is closer to our own, there has been a more deliberate political decision to foster truthful advertising. In that country, it has been against the law since the early 1970s to be deceptive in advertising. To accomplish this, the government not only extended its criminal code to proscribe deceptive advertising, but also formed an administrative agency to enforce the law. As a result, the Swedish people now strongly defend the integrity of their advertising. Perhaps someday we, too, will be proud of ours.
Deceptive advertising is technically illegal in the United States, but enforcement is minimal.
We mention the Japanese and Swedish use of advertising to urge that, should you ever decide to advertise, you be sure your advertisements are scrupulously honest and that they are as distinct as possible in style, content and location from the general run of other ads. For example, if you limit an offering in a print ad in any way, do so in print as large as the offer itself. If you advertise a service, don't overstate the likely beneficial result of using it, and include a warning as to any risk. Send us feedback . Inc. 30 years of providing quality legal information.