Complying with Canadian advertising laws can be challenging for brands and agencies. Advertising in Canada is highly regulated.
Some of the practical challenges include consistent enforcement by the Competition Bureau, CRTC and other enforcement agencies, increasing regulatory and enforcement focus on digital advertising (e.g., influencer marketing, online price claims and drip-pricing, online disclaimers and disclosures and Canada’s anti-spam legislation, CASL) and adapting advertising and marketing campaigns to new technology, platforms and social media.
We help our clients practically navigate Canada’s advertising and marketing laws and offer Canadian advertising law services in relation to print, online, new media, social media and e-mail marketing and electronic marketing.
CANADIAN ADVERTISING AND MARKETING LAW SERVICES
Our Canadian advertising and marketing law services include legal advice in relation to the general misleading advertising provisions of Canada’s federal Competition Act, competition law compliance programs, CASL (Canadian federal anti-spam law), Competition Bureau complaints, Competition Bureau advisory opinions (written opinions), Internet, new media and social media advertising and marketing, provincial consumer protection legislation, running promotional contests/sweepstakes and other types of marketing campaigns and promotions.
We also provide advice in relation to specific types of advertising and marketing issues, including disclaimers, drip pricing, influencer marketing, native advertising and astroturfing, ordinary selling price (OSP) claims and sale claims, product performance claims and testimonials and endorsements.
For more information about our Canadian advertising and marketing law services, please see: Advertising Law, Anti-Spam (CASL), Compliance, Internet and New Media and Promotional Contests.
CANADIAN ADVERTISING AND MARKETING LAW
PRECEDENTS
In addition to our legal services, we also offer Canadian advertising and marketing related precedents, forms and checklists for Canadian contests/sweepstakes and to assist compliance with Canadian federal anti-spam law (CASL).
For more information, see: Canadian Contest Forms and Canadian CASL Forms.
OUR CLIENTS
We practice federal Canadian law and Ontario law. As such, we frequently act for companies, associations, not-for-profit organizations, governments, advertising agencies and communications firms and individuals in Toronto and across Canada and the United States.
For more than 20 years we have provided competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing, contest/sweepstakes, CASL and regulatory law advice to our clients in Canada, the United States and Europe.
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
Industry sectors in which we have worked in the competition and advertising law areas include:
Accounting associations, advertising agencies, agriculture, agricultural manufacturers, airlines, airports, architectural woodworking, architects, associations, automobile dealers, automobile repair, biscuits, broadcasting, car dealerships, cat food, cement, charities, chicken farmers, children’s playgrounds, chiropractors, clothing, clothing manufacturers, computers, computer hardware, consulting, construction associations, construction materials, copper mining, defence procurement, destination marketing, diamonds, digital media, direct marketing, dog food, energy, financial services, float plane airlines, floor plan finance, food, forestry, gaming, gem polishing, gold mining, golf retailers, grain elevators, hedge funds, hotels, insurance, labour unions, LCD monitors, manufacturing, media, mining, news wire services, online contests, online gaming, online search engine ranking, outfitting and hunting expeditions, oil change services, paper, pencils, pet food, pharmacies, plastics, plastic manufacturers, port terminal grain handling facilities, potash, printing, pulp and paper, rail, real estate, real estate self-storage, real estate associations, real estate boards, real estate services, real estate brokerages, recycling, residential high-rise construction, residential home construction, retail, retail books, retail clothing, roofing shingles, satellite communications, silver mining, social media, software, sports broadcasting, stock exchange services, telecommunications, telemarketing, theatre exhibition and film distribution, time shares, tires, tourism, trade associations, trailer leasing, transportation, travel agencies, upstream oil and gas, vacuum cleaner manufacturing, vitamins, window retailers, windows and door manufacturers.
REPRESENTATIVE WORK
Some of our recent competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing and contest law work for Toronto, Canadian and international clients include:
Association competition law compliance, including in-person and online compliance programs for some of Canada’s largest associations; competition compliance for a major global construction products company; competition law compliance programs for small and large companies; advertising and marketing law advice (including for several of Canada’s and the world’s leading brands, local Canadian governments and several international governments); submissions to the Competition Bureau; filing Competition Bureau complaints; competition and advertising law related memoranda, applications for Competition Bureau advisory opinions; Canadian price-fixing cases; immunity applications to the Competition Bureau; contest law advice including for several local and international governments; competition law seminars and presentations for industry groups; drafting contest rules/forms; and assisting litigation counsel with competition law theory and strategies.
