Heed the hashtags! At least that’s what the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices is warning lawyers to do after investigating a promotion put on by shoe-God Cole Haan, according to Porter Wright’s Robert Morgan in a post on the Technology Law Source blog.
Cole Haan held a promotion on Pinterest where contestants were encouraged to pin certain photos to their boards, with the Twitter hashtag #WanderingSole for a cash incentive. However, the FTC saw the pins as endorsements of Cole Haan products and, in a report, claimed the “#WanderingSole hashtag did not adequately communicate ‘the financial incentive—a material connection—between contestants and Cole Haan.’”
