Claim Interpretation Can Sometimes Depend Upon How You Look At It

From a marketing standpoint companies always want to know who the target audience is for the advertising, but sometimes it becomes important from a legal standpoint as well.  In some instances arguments regarding the target audience can be helpful.  Claims are usually interpreted with regard to the "reasonable consumer" but in some instances claims that might mislead the reasonable consumer may not be misleading because they are intended for a more knowledgeable or sophisticated audience.  The FTC's Policy Statement on Deception provides the example of a prescription drug advertisement to doctors and notes that such advertising should be judged "in light of the knowledge and sophistication of that group."  More often, though, arguments about target audience can be a source of difficulty.  The Policy Statement also cites examples of ads targeted to more vulnerable groups, such as marketing a cure for cancer to terminally ill patients.  In other cases, advertising or