Unfairness in Advertising Revisited

The 1980 FTC Amendments Act prohibits the Commission from using “unfairness” as the basis for promulgating trade regulation rules on advertising until 1982, at which time it will be decided whether or not unfairness should be fully reinstated in the FTC statute. To provide insight into the relevant issues, this paper examines the challenges and defenses to the unfairness doctrine and its significance to marketers and public policy makers.