2. Breaches of Ethics

As an avid fan and consumer of cereal, I would be  absolutely flabbergasted to discover a specific brand of cereal makes you smarter. 

Woah! Wouldn't that make you rush to the store and stock up on this cereal for every exam you may have in the future? Absolutely! I know I would, even if it was Kellogg's Mini Wheats.

In 2013, Kellogg's advertised their Frosted Mini Wheats cereal as 

“clinically shown to improve kids’ attentiveness by nearly 20%”. 

Kellogg's advertised this false information via print, television, internet advertising, and product packaging, resulting in a nationwide false advertisement case against Kellogg's. 

As the world's leading producer of cereal, Kellogg's faced major backlash for this exaggeration of their cereal's benefits. 

The legal definition of false advertising is described as, 

"the crime or tort of publishing, broadcasting, or otherwise publicly distributing an advertisement that contains an untrue, misleading, or deceptive representation or statement which was made knowingly or recklessly and with the intent to promote the sale of property, goods, or services to the public".

Since 1914, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) started, the Federal Trade Commission Act was installed, which states that "false advertising is a form of unfair and deceptive commerce". This act makes the name, false advertising, expand past just misleading ads. 

Advertising fraud is a consistent issue, and creates barriers between consumer and producer relationships. 

Brands are supposed to establish a transparent and clear purpose for their product and service, without a question of their reliability. 

So whenever a case of misleading information is discovered by the FTC, 

 "the agency files actions in federal district court for immediate and permanent orders to stop scams; prevent fraudsters from perpetrating scams in the future; freeze their assets; and get compensation for victims."

The FTC goes to these lengths to ensure justice is served, and to protect the law. According to the FTC, it does not matter the medium of news the false advertising was published on, because the FTC "applies the same standards no matter where an ad appears".

Under these standards, Kellogg's agreed to pay $4 million for their false advertising claims. The cereal company faced major backlash, especially because years prior they had done an exceptional job of maintaining reliable customer relationships. 

As for their loyal and gullible customers, each person who purchased a cereal box with the misleading advertisement, received $5 per box back with a maximum of $15 per customer.

The settlement for Kellogg's false claims involved: 

 "It requires that claims about the benefits to cognitive health, process, or function provided by Frosted Mini-Wheats or any morning food or snack food be substantiated and true. The settlement would prohibit Kellogg from misrepresenting the results of tests, studies, or research regarding any morning or snack food product. Finally, the settlement contains standard record-keeping provisions to allow the agency to monitor compliance."

The ethical standards behind advertising, do not allow any kind of misinformation to release without consequence. Even if advertising and their promises are released with pure intentions, the company/ individual will face legal charges, nevertheless. 

Kellogg's did not only face this backlash about their Frosted Mini Wheats, in 2010 their popular Rice Krispies cereal released information related to their cereal involving claims of "immunity-boosting properties". 

At the end of the case, Kellogg's agreed to pay $2.5 million to all affected customers, who were told that this cereal would "increase a child's immunity by 25%".

While false advertisements can be considered annoying, they have a strong reputation to attract customers and sell their product. Advertisers and marketers will do anything to sell their product, encouraging them to mislead their audience with false ads.

While looking at false advertisements may be funny, they can create serious problems for consumers. Integrity of a company and their claims is one of the most important ideals for the business world. Not only do these false claims hurt the consumer, they also have the ability to significantly damage the company's infrastructure. This false hope of a specific product may influence a customer to not choose this company or their products for future use. 

The existence of false advertising should remain a caution to buyers: most advertisers assume buyers are naïve, and use this assumption to mislead consumers toward false information about their product.

Again, if a cereal existed where it would "make me smarter". You would see me running, not walking to the nearest Walmart. And maybe if this cereal did exist, it would stop me and so many others from trusting any fact we may stumble upon the internet or cereal box.