Advertising service disclosing where manufacturers products are sold

No. 42. Advertising service disclosing where manufacturers products are sold.

The Federal Trade Commission today made public its advice that a plan to furnish manufacturers a new form of advertising service disclosing where their products are sold would not be ilegal.

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Under this proposed plan, a manufacturer wil publish an advertisement in a national magazine, and wil furnish to the proposed corporation represented by the requesting party a complete listing of an retailers sening the advertised product, c1assified according to the major shopping areas throughout the country. The advertisement wil contain a descriptive symbol for the proposed service, with a reference to the page in the same publication containing a telephone number list, a1so c1assified according to the major shopping areas throughout the country. Each answering service inc1uded in this list wil be equipped by the proposed corporation with the manufacturer list of his retailers in that trade area, which wil be given to any consumer who reads the advertisement and cans the number provided to 1earn where he can purchase the product. The cost of the entire service win be borne by the manufacturer. The FTC's advisory opinion said Since it appears that any potential customer callng wil be furnished with the names and addresses of an dea1ers handling a particular product in a trade area, it is our opinion that the proposed p1an described wou1d not subject participating manufacturers or your c1ient to a charge of violating the 1aw. We shou1d caution, however, that great care must be exercised in defining the boundaries of the various trade areas into which the country is to be divided so as not to discriminate against customers located on the fringes but outside the area served by the answering service, since they may be in actual competition with those who are within the area and thus receive the benefit of the service. " (Fi1e No. 633 7045, released May 10 1966.