Whether your business is an established global brand or a start-up, effective advertising and marketing can be the key to its success. All businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure that advertising is truthful and not deceptive. And no matter where an ad appears - on the Internet, on the radio or television, in newspapers and magazines, in the mail, or on billboards or buses - the same truth-in-advertising standard applies. Additional standards apply if you use telemarketing in your promotional efforts.

Here's some useful information you should consider when putting together your marketing strategy.

Advertising and Marketing Basics
Under the law, claims in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based. For some specialized products or services, additional rules may apply.

Children
If you advertise directly to children or market kid-related products to their parents, it's important to comply with truth-in-advertising standards.

Endorsements
Do you use endorsements or testimonials in your marketing? Do they meet the standards of the Federal Trade Commision Act and the Endorsement Guides? Find out more by consulting FTC compliance resources.

Environmental Marketing
Companies are offering consumers an ever-growing assortment of "green" options. But whether your environmental claims are about the product or the packaging, you'll need competent and reliable scientific evidence to support what you say. Find out more by consulting the FTC's revised Green Guides. Have you spotted what you think might be a deceptive claim or practice? Contact the FTC.

Made in USA
Do you promote your products as "Made in the USA"? Under the law, some products must disclose U.S. content. For others, manufacturers and marketers who choose to make claims about the amount of U.S. content must comply with the Federal Trade Commision Acts Made in USA policy. Is your company up on what's required?

Telemarketing
The Federal Trade Commision Act's Telemarketing Sales Rule helps protect consumers from fraudulent telemarketing calls and gives them certain protections under the National Do Not Call Registry. Companies also need to be familiar with rules banning most forms of robocalling. If you or someone working on your behalf is telemarketing products or services, know the dos and don'ts before you plan your strategy.

Born in El Paso, Texas, on March 26, 1930, Sandra Day O'Connor was elected to two terms in the Arizona state senate. In 1981, Ronald Reagan nominated her as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and she received unanimous Senate approval. O'Connor also made history as the first woman justice to serve on the Supreme Court.

As a justice, O'Connor was as a key swing vote in many important cases, including the upholding of Roe v. Wade. She retired in 2006.

As a judge, Sandra Day O'Connor developed a solid reputation for being firm, but just. Outside of the courtroom, she remained involved in Republican politics. In 1979, O'Connor was selected to serve on the state's court of appeals. Only two years later, President Ronald Reagan nominated her for associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. O'Connor received unanimous approval from the U.S. Senate. She broke new ground for women in the legal field when she was sworn in as the first female justice on the Supreme.

She retired in 2006.

"The power I exert on the court depends on the power of my arguments, not on my gender."
~ Sandra Day O'Connor

One of our most cherished national ideals, expressed by Abraham Lincoln, is "government of the people, by the people, for the people." It is a principle ingrained in our Nation's founding documents, from the Declaration of Independence's assurance that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, to the opening three words of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, "We the People."

The right to vote is the very foundation of government by the people. For this reason, striving to establish and protect every citizen's right to vote has been a central theme of American legal and civic history. Much of the struggle on voting rights began decades ago, but the work is far from complete, and a citizen's right to cast a ballot remains at risk today.

As we approach the 50th anniversaries of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 2014 Law Day theme, American Democracy and the Rule of Law: Why Every Vote Matters, calls on every American to reflect on the importance of a citizen's right to vote and the challenges we still face in ensuring that all Americans have the opportunity to participate in our democracy.

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