Google and iHeartMedia, a radio and podcasting firm, on Monday agreed to pay $9.4 million to settle costs from the Federal Trade Commission and 7 states that they have been behind misleading Pixel 4 advertisements.
The costs say that just about 29,000 “deceptive endorsements” by radio personalities improperly promoted their expertise with the Pixel 4 all through 2019 and 2020, generally saying they used the Pixel 4 once they apparently weren’t offered the cellphone.
“It is common sense that people put more stock in firsthand experiences. Consumers expect radio advertisements to be truthful and transparent about products, not misleading with fake endorsements,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey stated in an announcement.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda stated Google is joyful to have resolved the problem. “We take compliance with advertising laws seriously and have processes in place designed to help ensure we follow relevant regulations and industry standards,” he stated in an announcement.
iHeartMedia declined to remark.
Google’s Pixel smartphones compete mainly in opposition to Apple iPhones and in opposition to Samsung’s Galaxy line. This 12 months’s Pixel 7
Phone makers have a tough time persuading prospects to change cellphone manufacturers, particularly to comparatively unknown merchandise like Google’s Pixel line. Celebrity endorsements are a time-honored solution to sign a product’s worthiness, however that may backfire if celebrities really use a competing product. Actress Gal Gadot tweeted her love of the Huawei Mate 10 Pro cellphone utilizing the Twitter for iPhone app again in 2018.
Such fake pas might be seen as a result of Twitter identifies the system used to ship a tweet. Twitter’s new proprietor, Elon Musk, stated earlier in November that Twitter will stop including that information.
The FTC stated Google gave iHeartMedia and 11 different radio networks in 10 main markets a script with strains studying, “It’s my favorite phone camera out there, especially in low light, thanks to Night Sight mode” and “It’s also great at helping me get stuff done, thanks to the new voice activated Google Assistant that can handle multiple tasks at once.”
