"Violating a National Advertising Division rule isn't the same as violating a US law. But advertisers rely extensively on the self-regulatory system to handle disputes and determine whether specific ads are misleading and should be pulled. Companies generally abide by the self-regulatory body's rulings. While they try to massage the truth in ways that favor their own brands, they want to have some credibility left over to bring complaints against misleading ads launched by their competitors."
"NAD procedures state that companies participating in the system agree "not to mischaracterize any decision, abstract, or press release issued or use and/or disseminate such decision, abstract or press release for advertising and/or promotional purposes." The NAD said: In direct violation of this, AT&T has run an ad and issued a press release making representations regarding the alleged results of a competitor's participation in BBB National Program's advertising industry self-regulatory process."
The National Advertising Division operates a voluntary industry self-regulatory system that advertisers rely on to resolve disputes and identify misleading ads. Companies generally comply with NAD rulings to preserve credibility for challenging competitors and to limit government regulation, though the NAD can refer egregious cases to the Federal Trade Commission. NAD procedures explicitly prohibit repurposing NAD decisions, abstracts, or press releases for advertising or promotional use. AT&T ran an ad and issued a press release representing alleged results of a competitor's NAD participation, a violation the NAD says undermines the integrity and success of the voluntary process.
Read at Ars Technica
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