Starting in the late 19th century what were known as “Patent Medicines” were widespread, and widely advertised with outlandish claims of curing a vast range of ailments. These medicines often contained addictive substances like opium, cocaine, or alcohol, or were simply inert and useless, and the lack of regulation led to widespread harm and addiction. This era highlighted the need for truth in advertising and safety controls.
The first significant step toward truth in advertising laws came with the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914, but it wasn't until 1938 that the FTC's authority was expanded to protect consumers from deceptive advertising.
Our guest spent his career in advertising, and he says there are correlations between the early days of that industry and mass media, and where we find ourselves today with our wide open and unregulated online world.
Tim Love was Vice-Chairman of Omnicom Group, it’s a global advertising and marketing services company. Since retiring in 2013, he has focused his attention on our online world, and how, he says, it’s being openly used against us to sow division and uncertainty.
And, while he admits there isn’t a clear answer, he says a good place to start would be revisiting our current regulatory framework, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which overhauled the Communications Act of 1934. The 1996 law that we still operate under provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability for content they help distribute.
Tim is author “Discovering Truth - How to Navigate Between Fact & Fiction in an Overwhelming Social Media World” - and he’s host of a podcast called "Tim Love's Discovering Truth" on which he interviews people in the corporate and online world about the nature of truth and the trouble we find ourselves in.
Click here to listen to our conversation with him back in June.
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