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Where’s the Political Disclaimer?

  When we see political commercials, most of us are used to hearing or seeing a disclaimer at the end of the ad indicating who paid for the advertisement and the name of the candidate who approved the message and is responsible for its content.

So how is it that online at sites like Instagram, where candidates sometimes post these same ads, that the familiar disclaimers are often missing? See for example:


https://instagram.com/p/4PRAtVmhVq
Click Video to Start and STOP it.

The answer can be found in the rules of the Federal Election Commission.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The law requires:

Title 11 – Federal Elections § 110.11 Communications; advertising; disclaimers (2 U.S.C 441d).

(a) Scope. The following communications must include disclaimers, as specified in this section:
…
(2) All public communications, as defined in 11 CFR 100.26, by any person that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate.

However, the definition of “public communications” has an exception:

General public political advertising does not include Internet ads, except for communications placed for a fee on another person’s web site.

So, since Instagram for example does not charge people who post pictures and short videos on its website, any ads that appear there fall outside the requirement of having a disclaimer.

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Hotels.com Rewards Readers of Fine Print

  In a twist, an Internet company is rewarding TV viewers who take the time to read the fine print in one of its commercials.

Last month, Hotels.com decided it has high time that TV viewers stopped fast forwarding their DVRs through their commercials. So it created a sweepstakes that required people to pause the recorded program so they could read the rules of the contest including how to enter.

*MOUSE PRINT:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2NbtHAzNnU

The commercial only ran for a week. During that time, how many people do you think paused the commercial and actually entered the sweepstakes for a free trip?

350.

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Here We Downsize Again 2015 – Part 3

  In the never ending saga of shrinking products, we sadly bring you a roundup of some of the latest casualties.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Charmin

The company (P&G) eliminated 11 sheets per roll. And that is after lopping of 12 sheets in 2013. To remind everyone, the original Charmin had 600 or 650 single-ply sheets per roll. Mouse Print* asked P&G why they downsized Charmin again. We did not get a response. Special thanks to Richard G., once again, for finding this example.

Coffee is another one of those products that is subject to periodic downsizing, but this change was a big one.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Folgers

Folgers 100% Colombian coffee went from 27.8 ounces down to 24.2 ounces. That is a loss of 30 cups according to the package label. Regular users might have noticed this change because the container is substantially smaller. We asked Smucker why they downsized Folgers. Their PR person responded:

We have observed a shift in the way consumers purchase coffee. Coffee drinkers are coming back to grocery store shelves quicker and are purchasing a larger variety of products across the aisle, all while seeking a lower, more attractive price. A reduced canister size allows us to meet the needs of this evolving coffee consumer.

We responded to that spin asking if the company lowered the wholesale price of the coffee proportionately. The company responded that they lowered the suggested retail price. We asked for both the old and new suggested retail price so we could do the math ourselves, but we did not get the data.

We also checked at a neighborhood Stop & Shop supermarket, and found that both sizes were selling for the same $8.99 on sale.

old price, new price

So here’s a new wrinkle to downsizing: are stores pocketing price drops when a product shrinks instead of passing on the savings (if any) to their customers?

Thanks to Alanna K for spotting this change.

We don’t see a lot of frozen food downsizing, except for ice cream usually, so this was a great catch by Jim S.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Boston Market

No more one pound Boston Market Salisbury Steak, it is now slimmer and trimmer at 14.5 ounces.

Lastly, we have some more downsizing in the chip department, and this is a huge change.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Snyder's

Almost 25% of Synder’s tortilla chips was removed and the $3.49 price stayed the same. The company said they did this to align their products with those of the competition. Thanks again to Richard G. for this find.

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