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Nissan North America and TBWA Worldwide, Nissan's ad agency have agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over the FTC's claims that a television commercial for the Nissan Frontier misled consumers about the truck's ability to climb hills. The 30 second ad, titled "Hill Climb", portrayed a Frontier pushing a stranded dune buggy up a steep sand dune. In reality, the Frontier wold not be able to perform the stunt in the ad. To shoot the ad, both vehicles were towed up the hill using cables.
In announcing the settlement, the FTC said that Nissan and the ad agency are prohibited from using potentially misleading demonstrations in future advertisements for its trucks. No fines will be paid and both companies issued statements saying they never had any intention of misleading consumers. "Nissan takes its commitment to fair and truthful advertising seriously," Nissan spokesman Travis Parman wrote in an e-mail. "The company has been and remains committed to complying with the law."
"Special effects in ads can be entertaining, but advertisers can't use them to misrepresent what a product can do," Jessica Rich, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "This ad made the Nissan Frontier appear capable of doing something it can't do."
While the ad did flash a disclaimer on the screen, in small print: "Fictionalization. Do not attempt," the FTC deemed that insufficient to protect consumers that might think it was not a dramatization.
from The Truth About Cars http://ift.tt/Jh8LjA
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