First Issue(s) Of The Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest

The Competition Bureau has released the first issue of its Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest (formerly the Misleading Advertising Bulletin). The purpose of the Digest is to present the Bureau's perspective on advertising and marketing matters in a timely manner.

In the first issue, the Bureau addresses the following online advertising and marketing issues: 1) the use of disclaimers; 2) astroturfing; 3) online behavioural advertising (OBA); 4) geolocation; and 5) drip-pricing. The Bureau notes that these issues present common problems which are not limited to online advertising; notably, the risk of deceiving consumers via false or misleading representations. The Bureau indicates that this problem is due in large part to the inadequate disclosure of information that consumers need to make informed choices. This problem can arise where online information is misleadingly presented as coming from an arms‑length source (also a problem for native advertising and