FTC advisory opinion digest

No. 159. Advertising offering sale of treatment fOl' athlete s foot. The Commission rendered an ac1,-isor~T opinion in ",hich it declined to give approval to advertising which offered to sell information as a method of treatment "hich "\',ns represented to effect a cure for athlete s foot.

For a stated sum of money, the acln?rtisement in question offered to send prospective purchasers complete information detailing a simple inexpensive cure for athlete s foot "",ith two products probably at present in your medicine cabinet." The treatment in question involved washing the feet with "ateI' and alcohol and then applying it common household sah-e. The Commission advised that it could not give its appro-nll to any achertising which represents that this method of treatment "\yill effed a cure for nthlete s foot or to any achertising which 9.'oes beyond cJitims that the treatment "ill afford temDorarv relief from the itching and burning associated ,,-ith athlete s lOOt. The O )inion went on to state that the la 'VB ar:' ainst deceDtive acl.:ertisillg apply equally to those who nre selling advice or information and to those 1\'110 are selling products. In either ease, in the. Commi:3sion view the test is whether the advice (or product) being offered "ill in fact achieve the results claimed for it in the advertising. If the advice reeommends the use of a product, the emcaey of the product for the use recommended must of course also be considered. ADVISORY OPINION DIGEST 1291 Finally, the Commissionadvisec1 that the opinion in no way related to the question of whether the proposal "Iould constitute the practice of medicine nor to the legality of the requesting party doing so. (File No. 6837047, released Jan. 12, 1968.