Slashdot Mirror
FTC Accuses LifeLock of False Advertising Again
An anonymous reader writes: You may remember LifeLock — it's the identity protection company whose CEO published his social security number and dared people to steal his identity. Predictably, 13 different people succeeded. LifeLock was later sued for deceptive marketing practices, and eventually settled with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to the tune of $12 million. Part of that settlement, of course, required that they refrain from misrepresenting their services in the future. Now, the FTC is taking action against them again, saying they failed to live up to that promise. The FTC claims (PDF) LifeLock falsely advertised that it "protected consumers' sensitive data with the same high-level safeguards as financial institutions" and also failed build systems to protect the data they held.
LifeLock was later sued for deceptive marketing practices
Marketing by nature is deceptive . You never sell what you sell but you create the need ( more often than not artificial) for people . How many car advertisements actually talk about the car?
Marketing by nature is deceptive
Not true. Marketing done well is VERY honest with customers. You can lie in marketing but that doesn't mean marketing is nothing but lies. Marketing fundamentally is about creating and maintaining a relationship with a customer. It's not actually about selling the product - not directly anyway. You have a product and you are trying to find a way to communicate the existence and benefits of that product to others - that is marketing. Along side that you are communicating with potential customers about who you (the seller) are and what you are about. At its core that is all marketing is - developing relationships. You'll note that lying is no way required to do that and frankly it is largely counterproductive in the long run.
People don't buy Coca-cola because Coke Inc is lying to people about what it is and frankly they don't really need to lie about it. Sure they are selling flavored carbonated sugar water but they are also selling a brand which is intangible but clearly valuable to many people. Lying in marketing is kind of like a guy falsely claiming to be a doctor to pick up a girl in a bar. It might work but it isn't likely to last. While it is possible to lie in marketing and be successful for a time with it. But that does not mean that marketing is intrinsically deceptive.
Marketing is not the same thing as sales. Sales is the actual act of convincing someone to buy a product or service. Marketing is developing a relationship with a customer and an awareness of the product. Those things are related but are different stages in the process.