This article covers advertising compliance rules that apply to any marketing your business publishes — including emails, social posts, promotions, and campaigns created using your Thryv® marketing tools. This article does not cover Thryv's platform-specific terms of service, email deliverability rules, or social media platform policies. For guidance on those topics, see [Thryv Email Marketing Best Practices] and [Social Media Content Guidelines].

Note: This content is provided for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Thryv does not guarantee that this information reflects a complete or current summary of applicable law. Consult a licensed attorney for questions about your specific legal obligations.

Why Advertising Compliance Protects Your Business Reputation

When you send a campaign, post a promotion, or run an ad using your Thryv marketing tools, every claim you make about your business, products, or services is subject to federal and state advertising laws. These rules exist to protect consumers from being misled — but following them also protects your business. A misleading ad can damage customer trust, attract regulatory scrutiny, and create legal liability that far outweighs any short-term marketing gain.

How to Make Sure Your Ad Claims Are Truthful

Every statement your business makes in an ad must be accurate, and the overall impression your ad creates must not mislead consumers even if every individual statement is technically true. Misleading impressions can arise from the words you choose, the way you phrase a claim, or from leaving out information that a consumer would need to make an informed decision.

Implied claims carry the same legal weight as direct claims. If your ad says "the only cleaning service that guarantees results," a consumer could reasonably infer that competitors do not offer guarantees and if that impression is false, the ad is misleading regardless of whether you stated it outright.

When an ad claim requires a qualifier to be accurate, include the qualifier clearly and close to the claim itself. For example, if your business was voted a regional favorite from 2015 to 2019, the award date range must appear near the claim not buried in fine print or omitted entirely. Leaving out material information that affects how a consumer understands your ad is treated the same as making a false statement.

How to Back Up Claims About Your Products or Services

Any claim about the quality of your product or service that  consumers would consider important in  choosing you must be supported with factual evidence.

Using superlative phrases like "best burger" or  "most fun" for your business, products, or services in advertising is generally treated as acceptable puffery because consumers understand these as subjective opinions rather than verifiable facts.  However, if a claim can be objectively measured or disproven, the claim must be true. Stating "voted best yoga studio in Pasadena 3 years running", are factual claims that require supporting evidence.

If your superlative claim is something that can be verified or disproven by simple facts or measurement, however (largest pizza in the state, 8/10 people use our brand), it must be true for you to claim it in advertising. And, it may backfire to try this in marketing anyway - if you say you have the largest pancakes in the city, and everyone knows that your competitor’s are larger, people might disbelieve anything else you say in your ad. 

When your advertising references a third-party study, survey, or article to support a claim, that claim becomes your claim. Use third-party sources with established credibility and good reputations. If the source is outdated, limited in scope, or not relevant to your specific business context, the claim may still be considered misleading even if the source is real.

How to Advertise Discounts, Free Offers, and Guarantees Fairly

Promotional pricing is one of the most common areas where advertising compliance problems arise. The rules below apply to promotions you run through your campaigns, booking offers, and any promotional content published using your Thryv marketing tools..

Free offers:  use the word “Free” carefully so as not to mislead consumers. An item or service is only "free" if the consumer pays nothing to receive it , no fees, no required purchase at an inflated price, and no hidden costs. For buy one get one free promotions, the first item must be sold at its regular price. Marking up the first item to offset the cost of the second item violates fair advertising standards.

Discounts and percentage-off claims: Discount offers should represent a genuine reduction from from the price at which you have actually sold the product or service to real customers in the recent past. If your business has never sold a service at the full "list price," advertising a discount from that list price is considered deceptive pricing unless the list price reflects the standard market rate.

Rebates: Advertise a rebate only when money will actually be paid back to the customer after a purchase. Do not use the term "rebate" to describe a discount applied at the time of sale

Satisfaction guarantees and money-back guarantees: You should only use the term “satisfaction guarantee” or “money back guarantee” if you will refund the full purchase price of the advertised product or service upon request and all stated conditions have been met. Any conditions or limitations that apply to the guarantee must be stated clearly and prominently — not buried in fine print or disclosed only after the sale.

Case studies and performance results: When using customer success stories or results to market your services, use examples that reflect the typical outcome a new customer can expect. Using a single exceptional result as the primary example of what customers can expect creates an unrealistic impression and can lead to dissatisfaction after the sale.

How to Handle Endorsements and Reviews in Your Marketing

Endorsements and reviews are valuable marketing tools, but they come with disclosure requirements that apply any time compensation or free products are involved.

If you pay someone or provide  free products or services to endorse or review your product, the endorser must disclose that relationship. . The disclosure requirement applies regardless of whether the endorser's opinion is genuine. Consumers have the right to factor in a paid relationship when deciding how much weight to give a recommendation.

An expert  endorsement is only credible and compliant when the endorser is recognized in the relevant field. Do not describe someone as an expert unless their professional credentials or experience genuinely qualify them as one in the area they are endorsing.

Don’t falsely imply an endorsement of your product or association with  a celebrity, a brand, or someone likely to influence purchasers. Unauthorized use of a recognizable name or likeness to suggest affiliation with your business misleads consumers and may result in legal action from the individual or brand.

Suppressing negative reviews is not a compliant or effective strategy. Selectively showing only positive reviews creates a misleading overall impression of customer satisfaction. Respond to negative reviews with factual, respectful information and allow consumers to evaluate the full picture.   

How to Compare Your Business to Competitors in Ads

 Comparisons with products of competitors are acceptable in advertising as long as the claims are truthful, supported by evidence and not misleading. 

When making a comparison, compare equivalent offerings — the same product tier, service scope, or pricing category. Comparing your premium tier to a competitor's entry-level offering without disclosing the difference creates a misleading impression even if the underlying data is accurate.

Disparaging competitors — making statements designed to damage their reputation rather than highlight genuine differences — is not a best practice and can expose your business to legal risk. This applies whether the statements come from your business directly or from a customer quoted in your ad. Statements included in your advertising may be attributed to your business regardless of who originally made them.

What You Need to Know Before Running a Contest or Sweepstakes

 Contests, raffles and sweepstakes are subject to both federal and state laws and the rules vary by state, so use caution, before promoting a contest through your Thryv campaigns or social content, understand the legal structure of your promotion.

In the United States, a promotion is considered an illegal lottery if it includes all three of the following elements: a prize of value, a winner selected by random chance, and a requirement that participants purchase something or provide payment or significant effort to enter. Removing any one of these three elements from your contest design avoids the illegal lottery classification.

Two common compliant approaches are: awarding the prize based on merit with subjective judging criteria (such as best photo or most creative answer), or providing a free alternative method of entry that is genuinely accessible to all participants. Even when a contest structure avoids the illegal lottery definition, state-level registration requirements, bonding requirements, and restrictions may still apply. Contact your state's Attorney General's office to confirm compliance requirements before launching.

Social media platforms have their own contest rules that apply independently of federal and state laws. Review the terms of service for any platform where you plan to promote or host a contest before publishing.

Federal and state tax reporting requirements apply to prizes above a certain value. Consult a licensed attorney or tax professional before offering high-value prizes.

Frequently Asked Questions About Advertising Compliance

Does advertising compliance apply to emails I send through my Thryv campaigns? Yes. Advertising compliance rules apply to any marketing communication your business publishes or sends, including email campaigns, promotional offers, and social content created using your Thryv marketing tools.

Can I use the word "free" in a subject line or promotion? Yes, but only when the offer is genuinely free  meaning no cost to the recipient, no required purchase at an inflated price, and no hidden fees. Using "free" to describe something that has conditions or costs attached is considered deceptive.

What is the difference between puffery and a claim that needs to be proven? Puffery refers to subjective, general praise that consumers understand as opinion rather than fact  for example, "the friendliest staff in town." A claim that can be verified or disproven by objective measurement for example, "fastest response time in the industry" is a factual claim and must be supported by evidence.

Does this article cover platform-specific ad policies for Google or Facebook? No. This article covers general federal advertising compliance rules. For information about social media platform policies, see [Social Media Content Guidelines].

Where can I find additional federal advertising guidance? Review the FTC's Advertising FAQ Guide for Small Businesses for additional federal compliance guidance applicable to local businesses.