Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 9720-9723 [2015-03672]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 36 / Tuesday, February 24, 2015 / Notices
Republic Bank, Inc., both in Duluth,
Minnesota.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, February 19, 2015.
Michael J. Lewandowski,
Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2015–03719 Filed 2–23–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210–01–P
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Formations of, Acquisitions by, and
Mergers of Bank Holding Companies
The companies listed in this notice
have applied to the Board for approval,
pursuant to the Bank Holding Company
Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.)
(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part
225), and all other applicable statutes
and regulations to become a bank
holding company and/or to acquire the
assets or the ownership of, control of, or
the power to vote shares of a bank or
bank holding company and all of the
banks and nonbanking companies
owned by the bank holding company,
including the companies listed below.
The applications listed below, as well
as other related filings required by the
Board, are available for immediate
inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank
indicated. The applications will also be
available for inspection at the offices of
the Board of Governors. Interested
persons may express their views in
writing on the standards enumerated in
the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the
proposal also involves the acquisition of
a nonbanking company, the review also
includes whether the acquisition of the
nonbanking company complies with the
standards in section 4 of the BHC Act
(12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise
noted, nonbanking activities will be
conducted throughout the United States.
Unless otherwise noted, comments
regarding each of these applications
must be received at the Reserve Bank
indicated or the offices of the Board of
Governors not later than March 20,
2015.
A. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
(Chapelle Davis, Assistant Vice
President) 1000 Peachtree Street NE.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30309:
1. Merchants & Farmers Bancshares,
Inc., Leesville, Louisiana; to merge with
Vernon Bancshares, Inc., and thereby
indirectly acquire Vernon Bank, both in
Leesville, Louisiana.
2. United Community Banks, Inc.,
Blairsville, Georgia, to merge with
MoneyTree Corporation, and thereby
indirectly acquire First National Bank,
both in Lenoir City, Tennessee.
B. Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis (Jacquelyn K. Brunmeier,
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Assistant Vice President) 90 Hennepin
Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota
55480–0291:
1. American Bancor, Ltd., Dickinson,
North Dakota; to acquire 100 percent of
the voting shares of United Community
Bank of North Dakota, Leeds, North
Dakota.
2. Landmark Investor Group, Inc.,
Eden Prairie, Minnesota; to become a
bank holding company by acquiring 100
percent of the voting shares of
Landmark Community Bank, National
Association, Isanti, Minnesota.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, February 19, 2015.
Michael J. Lewandowski,
Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2015–03718 Filed 2–23–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210–01–P
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Notice of Proposals To Engage in or
To Acquire Companies Engaged in
Permissible Nonbanking Activities
The companies listed in this notice
have given notice under section 4 of the
Bank Holding Company Act (12 U.S.C.
1843) (BHC Act) and Regulation Y, (12
CFR part 225) to engage de novo, or to
acquire or control voting securities or
assets of a company, including the
companies listed below, that engages
either directly or through a subsidiary or
other company, in a nonbanking activity
that is listed in § 225.28 of Regulation Y
(12 CFR 225.28) or that the Board has
determined by Order to be closely
related to banking and permissible for
bank holding companies. Unless
otherwise noted, these activities will be
conducted throughout the United States.
Each notice is available for inspection
at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated.
The notice also will be available for
inspection at the offices of the Board of
Governors. Interested persons may
express their views in writing on the
question whether the proposal complies
with the standards of section 4 of the
BHC Act.
Unless otherwise noted, comments
regarding the applications must be
received at the Reserve Bank indicated
or the offices of the Board of Governors
not later than March 11, 2015.
A. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
(Richard Walker, Community Affairs
Officer) 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston,
Massachusetts 02210–2204.
1. New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp,
Manchester, New Hampshire (MHC), to
establish MillRiver Trust Company,
Concord, New Hampshire (MillRiver),
and transfer the existing trust business
from MHC’s subsidiary banks,
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Merrimack County Savings Bank,
Concord, New Hampshire and Meredith
Village Savings Bank, Meredith, New
Hampshire to MillRiver, and thereby
engage in trust company, financial
advisory and transaction activities, and
the sale of insurance in a town of less
than 5,000 in population, pursuant to
sections 225.28(b)(5), (b)(6), (b)(7) and
(b)(11)(iii)(A) of Regulation Y.
B. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
(Chapelle Davis, Assistant Vice
President) 1000 Peachtree Street NE.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30309:
1. First NBC Bank Holding Company,
New Orleans, Louisiana; to acquire 100
percent of the outstanding shares of
State Investors Bancorp, Inc. and its
subsidiary bank, State-Investors Bank
both of Metairie, Louisiana, and thereby
engage in operating a savings
association, pursuant to section
225.28(b)(4)(ii) of Regulation Y.
Comment regarding this application
must be received by March 20, 2015.
C. Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis (Jacquelyn K. Brunmeier,
Assistant Vice President) 90 Hennepin
Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota
55480–0291:
1. SSB, Inc., Manistique, Michigan; to
acquire through State Savings Bank of
Manistique, Manistique, Michigan,
between 10 and 20 percent of the stock
of Lasco Development Corporation,
Marquette, Michigan. And thereby
engage in data processing activities,
pursuant to section 225.28(b)(14) of
Regulation Y.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, February 19, 2015.
Michael J. Lewandowski,
Assistant Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2015–03720 Filed 2–23–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210–01–P
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
Federal Trade Commission
(‘‘Commission’’ or ‘‘FTC’’).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The FTC intends to conduct
an evaluation of Admongo, its
advertising literacy program for children
ages 8–12. The evaluation will involve
a randomized controlled trial of the
Admongo online game, using an
Internet panel recruited by a market
research company. This research will be
conducted to further the FTC’s mission
of protecting consumers from unfair and
deceptive marketing. The information
collection requirements described below
SUMMARY:
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 36 / Tuesday, February 24, 2015 / Notices
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are being submitted to the Office of
Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) for
review as required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act (‘‘PRA’’).
DATES: Comments must be submitted on
or before March 26, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a
comment online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the
Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
below. Write ‘‘Admongo Evaluation,
FTC File No. P085200’’ on your
comment, and file your comment online
at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/
ftc/admongoevaluationpra2, by
following the instructions on the webbased form. If you prefer to file your
comment on paper, mail your comment
to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary,
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC–5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC
20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW.,
5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J),
Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information
should be addressed to David Givens,
Economist, Bureau of Economics,
Federal Trade Commission, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington,
DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326–3397.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
As the nation’s consumer protection
agency, the FTC is responsible for
enforcing laws that prohibit unfair and
deceptive advertising and marketing
practices. Part of this mission involves
educating consumers, including young
consumers. In April 2010, the FTC
launched a youth-directed, multi-media
advertising literacy campaign called
Admongo and distributed
accompanying lesson plans to 100,000
educators in every U.S. public school
with a fifth or sixth grade class. The
Admongo program aims to help
children from 8 to 12 become more
discerning consumers of marketing
information. The program has three
broad objectives: (1) Raising awareness
of advertising and marketing messages;
(2) teaching critical thinking skills that
will help children analyze and interpret
advertisements; and (3) demonstrating
the benefits of being an informed
consumer. The program is designed to
teach students specific skills: How to
identify ads, how to identify the ways
advertisers target certain groups of
consumers, how to spot persuasive
techniques commonly employed by ads,
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and how to apply an understanding of
advertising techniques to make smarter
purchase decisions. The campaign
includes an online game, in-school
lesson plans, training videos for
teachers, and sample ads that can be
used at home and in the classroom.
The public can utilize individual
components of Admongo as desired, or
alternatively, schools can integrate all
the components to build a cohesive unit
on advertising literacy. All materials are
free and can be viewed at
www.admongo.gov.
The proposed evaluation is designed
to assess the impact of the Admongo
online game. The game is an interactive
teaching tool in which players advance
to higher levels by mastering
progressively more sophisticated topics
in advertising. Players start by
identifying ads, including logos and
product placement; they advance to
learning about the elements of
advertising (graphics, copy, video, and
audio) and then how advertisers target
their ads. The game culminates in
players creating their own video ad to
target a specific audience.
The proposed evaluation seeks to
measure the effect of playing the
Admongo game on a child’s level of
advertising literacy, as measured by a
test specially written for this purpose by
FTC staff. The online game is the one
component of the Admongo program
that children can most easily discover,
engage with, and learn from on their
own. Cost effectiveness data will enable
FTC staff to evaluate both this program
and the potential use of other similar
programs in the future. The FTC is
particularly interested in the effect of
game play on the ability to interpret real
ads (i.e., to differentiate explicit and
implied claims, identify particular
persuasive techniques, and understand
why they were chosen, etc.) and the
ways in which the game’s effect varies
by age and other family and
demographic characteristics.
II. Paperwork Reduction Act
Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3521,
federal agencies must get OMB approval
for each collection of information they
conduct or sponsor. ‘‘Collection of
information’’ means agency requests or
requirements that members of the public
submit reports, keep records, or provide
information to a third party. 44 U.S.C.
3502(3), 5 CFR 1320.3(c).
On March 3, 2014, the FTC sought
public comment on the information
collection requirements associated with
the proposed Admongo evaluation
study. One comment was received.
Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR
part 1320, that implement the PRA, the
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Commission is providing this second
opportunity for public comment.
A. Description of the Collection of
Information and Proposed Use
Subject to OMB approval, the FTC
will conduct a randomized trial of the
Admongo online game, involving 800
students, ages 8–12. A market research
contractor will select students for
participation from among its existing
panelists. Students must have parental
permission to participate in the
evaluation. A randomly selected half of
the participants will be assigned to a
treatment group, and the remaining
students will be assigned to a control
group.
Treatment students will be instructed
to play the Admongo online game from
their homes for one hour and then to
complete an advertising literacy test
(also online) within the allotted time (20
minutes). To ensure that each treatment
student’s true exposure to the game is
recorded accurately, her time spent
playing (and other measures of her
performance within the game) will be
monitored and logged by the game’s
server. Control students will be
instructed to take the test without
playing the Admongo game. To ensure
that control group members do not play
the game, no mention will be made to
these students about the existence of
Admongo or its connection to the test
they are instructed to take. To further
ensure the integrity of the evaluation,
the market research company will
screen out any panelist who has been
exposed to Admongo prior to this study.
Admongo’s effect on ad literacy will
be estimated from the difference in test
scores between the control and
treatment groups. Additional variables
measuring demographic, financial, and
family characteristics of the students, to
the extent this information can be
captured through a screening
questionnaire that is administered to
participants’ parents, will increase the
precision of Admongo’s estimated
impact and will reveal the influence of
these factors on ad literacy.
The sample will be selected to mirror
the U.S. population of 8–12 year-olds
along a number of observable
dimensions. However, because
participation in the study is voluntary
and based on a marketing research
Internet panel, the sample may suffer
from selection bias and may not
constitute a nationally representative
sample of 8–12 year-old American
children. Therefore, the estimate of
Admongo’s impact, derived from this
sample, will not generalize to the
broader audience of all 8–12 year-old
Americans.
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 36 / Tuesday, February 24, 2015 / Notices
B. Estimated Burden Hours
The proposed evaluation will involve
800 students ages 8–12. The half of the
sample assigned to the treatment group
will play the Admongo online game for
one hour and then take a 20-minute
advertising literacy test immediately
afterwards. The time burden for the
treatment-group totals 533 hours. The
half of the sample assigned to the
control group will take the test without
playing the game. The time burden for
the control group will be only the time
required to take the test—133 hours in
total. Finally, a parent of each
participating student will be asked to
complete a screening questionnaire,
estimated to take 5 minutes. The
aggregate time burden to complete the
questionnaire totals 67 hours. Therefore,
the total time burden for all participants
equals 733 hours.
C. Estimated Costs
Participation will not impose any
start-up, capital, or labor expenditures.
The costs to respondents involve only
the time expended to play the Admongo
online game and/or take the online
advertising literacy test or complete a
screening questionnaire. Participation in
the evaluation is voluntary; respondents
are drawn from existing pools of
Internet panelists (i.e., households that
have already indicated they are willing
and able to take part in Internet
research), and participants and their
parents are free to refuse the invitation
to participate in any particular study.
All students (or their parents) will be
compensated at the standard rate by the
market research company that recruits
them and runs the experiment.
Treatment-group students are expected
to be compensated more than controlgroup students due to the former
group’s substantially larger time
commitment.
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D. Analysis of Comments Received
The Commission received one
comment regarding the proposed
collection of information. The
commenter was a private citizen who
offered several observations on the
proposed study design. First, the
commenter pointed out that the sample
is restricted to children with Internet
access at home, limiting the
generalizability of the results. In
response, we note that although use of
an Internet panel may limit
generalizability of results, the
household-level information collected
from a screening questionnaire
administered to parents should at least
provide information on how the sample
differs from the universe of interest.
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Second, the commenter noted that an
evaluation of Admongo’s effectiveness
could be helpful to the FTC’s childdirected outreach efforts, but that if few
children access Admongo, then a study
of its effectiveness is not needed. In
response, we point out that the objective
of the proposed study is to evaluate the
potential effectiveness of the Admongo
online game, which is independent of
the actual use of the game. A finding of
a beneficial effect could lead to wider
use of Admongo. Third, the commenter
expresses concern that the control and
treatment groups may differ in ways that
will confound measurement of
Admongo’s effect. In response, we note
that participating students within each
age-sex cell will be randomly assigned
to control and treatment groups,
minimizing the chances that the groups
will differ systematically. And, fourth,
the commenter suggested asking
participants’ parents to certify that their
children have received no assistance
when completing the ad literacy test. In
response, we find this a sensible
suggestion and will consult with the
market research company on the
feasibility of obtaining such a
certification from parents.
E. Request for Comment
You can file a comment online or on
paper. For the Commission to consider
your comment, we must receive it on or
before March 26, 2015. Write ‘‘Admongo
Evaluation, FTC File No. P085200’’ on
your comment. Your comment,
including your name and your state,
will be placed on the public record of
this proceeding, including, to the extent
practicable, on the public Commission
Web site, at https://www.ftc.gov/os/
publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of
discretion, the Commission tries to
remove individuals’ home contact
information from comments before
placing them on the Commission Web
site.
Because your comment will be made
public, you are solely responsible for
making sure that your comment does
not include any sensitive personal
information, like anyone’s Social
Security number, date of birth, driver’s
license number or other state
identification number or foreign country
equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card
number. You are also solely responsible
for making sure that your comment does
not include any sensitive health
information, like medical records or
other individually identifiable health
information. In addition, do not include
any ‘‘[t]rade secret or any commercial or
financial information which . . . is
privileged or confidential,’’ as discussed
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in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C.
46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include
competitively sensitive information
such as costs, sales statistics,
inventories, formulas, patterns, devices,
manufacturing processes, or customer
names.
If you want the Commission to give
your comment confidential treatment,
you must file it in paper form, with a
request for confidential treatment, and
you have to follow the procedure
explained in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR
4.9(c).1 Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General
Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public
interest.
Postal mail addressed to the
Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a
result, we encourage you to submit your
comments online. To make sure that the
Commission considers your online
comment, you must file it at https://
ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/
admongoevaluationpra2, by following
the instructions on the web-based form.
If this Notice appears at https://
www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also
may file a comment through that Web
site.
If you prefer to file your comment on
paper, write ‘‘Admongo Evaluation, FTC
File No. P085200’’ on your comment
and on the envelope, and mail your
comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW., Suite CC–5610 (Annex J),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your
comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610
(Annex J), Washington, DC 20024. If
possible, submit your paper comment to
the Commission by courier or overnight
service.
Visit the Commission Web site at
https://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice
and the news release describing it. The
FTC Act and other laws that the
Commission administers permit the
collection of public comments to
consider and use in this proceeding as
appropriate. The Commission will
consider all timely and responsive
public comments that it receives on or
before March 31, 2015. For information
on the Commission’s privacy policy,
including routine uses permitted by the
1 In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must
include the factual and legal basis for the request,
and must identify the specific portions of the
comment to be withheld from the public record. See
FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 36 / Tuesday, February 24, 2015 / Notices
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/
privacy.htm. For supporting
documentation and other information
underlying the PRA discussion in this
Notice, see https://www.reginfo.gov/
public/jsp/PRA/praDashboard.jsp.
David C. Shonka,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2015–03672 Filed 2–23–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
[Document Identifier: HHS–OS–0990—
New—60D]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Collection; Public
Comment Request
Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Health, Office of
Adolescent Health, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
In compliance with the
requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
SUMMARY:
Health and Human Services (HHS) is
requesting approval by OMB on a new
collection. In FY2015, OAH expects to
award a second 5-year cohort of TPP
grants. Performance Measure data
collection is a requirement of all TPP
grant awards and is included in the
funding announcements. The measures
include dissemination, partners,
training, health-care linkages,
sustainability, reach, dosage, fidelity,
quality, and cost, reported separately by
grantee/sub grantee and program model.
Need and Proposed Use of the
Information: The data collection will
provide OAH with the data needed to
comply with accountability and federal
performance requirements for the 1993
Government Performance and Results
Act (Pub. L. 103–62); it will inform
stakeholders of progress in meeting the
goals of the program and of
sustainability efforts; and it will provide
OAH with metrics for monitoring TPP
grantees and will facilitate grantees’
continuous quality improvement in
program implementation.
Likely Respondents: 137 TPP grantees
and sub-grantees.
the Office of the Secretary (OS),
Department of Health and Human
Services, announces plans to submit a
new Information Collection Request
(ICR), described below, to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). Prior
to submitting the ICR to OMB, OS seeks
comments from the public regarding the
burden estimate, below, or any other
aspect of the ICR.
DATES: Comments on the ICR must be
received on or before April 27, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to
Information.CollectionClearance@
hhs.gov or by calling (202) 690–6162.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Information Collection Clearance staff,
Information.CollectionClearance@
hhs.gov or (202) 690–6162.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When
submitting comments or requesting
information, please include the
document identifier HHS–OS–0990—
New—60D for reference.
Information Collection Request Title:
Office of Adolescent Health Teen
Pregnancy Prevention, FY 2015–2020
Performance Measure Collection
Abstract: The Office of Adolescent
Health (OAH), U.S. Department of
TOTAL ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN—HOURS
Forms
Estimated
number of
respondents
Type of respondent
Grantee-Level Measures: Dissemination, # of
Partners, Number of Facilitators Trained
Health-Care Linkages, Sustainability.
Program-Level Measures: Participant Reach,
Dosage, Fidelity, Cost.
Total ...............................................................
2
1.25
342.5
Grantee/Sub-awardee
program staff.
137
2
6.45
1,767.3
........................
........................
........................
2,109.8
......................................
Darius Taylor,
Information Collection Clearance Officer.
ACTION:
BILLING CODE 4168–11–P
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Office of the Secretary
[Document Identifier: HHS–OS–0990–0422–
30–D]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Public Comment
Request
Office of the Secretary, HHS.
Notice.
AGENCY:
In compliance with section
3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the
Secretary (OS), Department of Health
and Human Services, has submitted an
Information Collection Request (ICR),
described below, to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
SUMMARY:
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Total burden
hours
137
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
[FR Doc. 2015–03750 Filed 2–23–15; 8:45 am]
Average
burden hours
per response
Grantee program staff
OS specifically requests comments on
(1) the necessity and utility of the
proposed information collection for the
proper performance of the agency’s
functions, (2) the accuracy of the
estimated burden, (3) ways to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected, and (4) the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology to minimize the information
collection burden.
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Number of
responses per
respondent
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review and approval. The ICR is for
renewal of the approved information
collection assigned OMB control
number 0990–0422, scheduled to expire
on August 31, 2015. Comments
submitted during the first public review
of this ICR will be provided to OMB.
OMB will accept further comments from
the public on this ICR during the review
and approval period.
DATES: Comments on the ICR must be
received on or before March 26, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to
OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov or via
facsimile to (202) 395–5806.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Information Collection Clearance staff,
Information.CollectionClearance@
hhs.gov or (202) 690–6162.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When
submitting comments or requesting
information, please include the OMB
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 36 (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9720-9723]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03672]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'' or ``FTC'').
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The FTC intends to conduct an evaluation of Admongo, its
advertising literacy program for children ages 8-12. The evaluation
will involve a randomized controlled trial of the Admongo online game,
using an Internet panel recruited by a market research company. This
research will be conducted to further the FTC's mission of protecting
consumers from unfair and deceptive marketing. The information
collection requirements described below
[[Page 9721]]
are being submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'')
for review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'').
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 26, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Admongo Evaluation,
FTC File No. P085200'' on your comment, and file your comment online at
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/admongoevaluationpra2, by
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file
your comment on paper, mail your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor,
Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
should be addressed to David Givens, Economist, Bureau of Economics,
Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20580. Telephone: (202) 326-3397.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
As the nation's consumer protection agency, the FTC is responsible
for enforcing laws that prohibit unfair and deceptive advertising and
marketing practices. Part of this mission involves educating consumers,
including young consumers. In April 2010, the FTC launched a youth-
directed, multi-media advertising literacy campaign called Admongo and
distributed accompanying lesson plans to 100,000 educators in every
U.S. public school with a fifth or sixth grade class. The Admongo
program aims to help children from 8 to 12 become more discerning
consumers of marketing information. The program has three broad
objectives: (1) Raising awareness of advertising and marketing
messages; (2) teaching critical thinking skills that will help children
analyze and interpret advertisements; and (3) demonstrating the
benefits of being an informed consumer. The program is designed to
teach students specific skills: How to identify ads, how to identify
the ways advertisers target certain groups of consumers, how to spot
persuasive techniques commonly employed by ads, and how to apply an
understanding of advertising techniques to make smarter purchase
decisions. The campaign includes an online game, in-school lesson
plans, training videos for teachers, and sample ads that can be used at
home and in the classroom.
The public can utilize individual components of Admongo as desired,
or alternatively, schools can integrate all the components to build a
cohesive unit on advertising literacy. All materials are free and can
be viewed at www.admongo.gov.
The proposed evaluation is designed to assess the impact of the
Admongo online game. The game is an interactive teaching tool in which
players advance to higher levels by mastering progressively more
sophisticated topics in advertising. Players start by identifying ads,
including logos and product placement; they advance to learning about
the elements of advertising (graphics, copy, video, and audio) and then
how advertisers target their ads. The game culminates in players
creating their own video ad to target a specific audience.
The proposed evaluation seeks to measure the effect of playing the
Admongo game on a child's level of advertising literacy, as measured by
a test specially written for this purpose by FTC staff. The online game
is the one component of the Admongo program that children can most
easily discover, engage with, and learn from on their own. Cost
effectiveness data will enable FTC staff to evaluate both this program
and the potential use of other similar programs in the future. The FTC
is particularly interested in the effect of game play on the ability to
interpret real ads (i.e., to differentiate explicit and implied claims,
identify particular persuasive techniques, and understand why they were
chosen, etc.) and the ways in which the game's effect varies by age and
other family and demographic characteristics.
II. Paperwork Reduction Act
Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, federal agencies must get OMB
approval for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor.
``Collection of information'' means agency requests or requirements
that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide
information to a third party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3), 5 CFR 1320.3(c).
On March 3, 2014, the FTC sought public comment on the information
collection requirements associated with the proposed Admongo evaluation
study. One comment was received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR
part 1320, that implement the PRA, the Commission is providing this
second opportunity for public comment.
A. Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use
Subject to OMB approval, the FTC will conduct a randomized trial of
the Admongo online game, involving 800 students, ages 8-12. A market
research contractor will select students for participation from among
its existing panelists. Students must have parental permission to
participate in the evaluation. A randomly selected half of the
participants will be assigned to a treatment group, and the remaining
students will be assigned to a control group.
Treatment students will be instructed to play the Admongo online
game from their homes for one hour and then to complete an advertising
literacy test (also online) within the allotted time (20 minutes). To
ensure that each treatment student's true exposure to the game is
recorded accurately, her time spent playing (and other measures of her
performance within the game) will be monitored and logged by the game's
server. Control students will be instructed to take the test without
playing the Admongo game. To ensure that control group members do not
play the game, no mention will be made to these students about the
existence of Admongo or its connection to the test they are instructed
to take. To further ensure the integrity of the evaluation, the market
research company will screen out any panelist who has been exposed to
Admongo prior to this study.
Admongo's effect on ad literacy will be estimated from the
difference in test scores between the control and treatment groups.
Additional variables measuring demographic, financial, and family
characteristics of the students, to the extent this information can be
captured through a screening questionnaire that is administered to
participants' parents, will increase the precision of Admongo's
estimated impact and will reveal the influence of these factors on ad
literacy.
The sample will be selected to mirror the U.S. population of 8-12
year-olds along a number of observable dimensions. However, because
participation in the study is voluntary and based on a marketing
research Internet panel, the sample may suffer from selection bias and
may not constitute a nationally representative sample of 8-12 year-old
American children. Therefore, the estimate of Admongo's impact, derived
from this sample, will not generalize to the broader audience of all 8-
12 year-old Americans.
[[Page 9722]]
B. Estimated Burden Hours
The proposed evaluation will involve 800 students ages 8-12. The
half of the sample assigned to the treatment group will play the
Admongo online game for one hour and then take a 20-minute advertising
literacy test immediately afterwards. The time burden for the
treatment-group totals 533 hours. The half of the sample assigned to
the control group will take the test without playing the game. The time
burden for the control group will be only the time required to take the
test--133 hours in total. Finally, a parent of each participating
student will be asked to complete a screening questionnaire, estimated
to take 5 minutes. The aggregate time burden to complete the
questionnaire totals 67 hours. Therefore, the total time burden for all
participants equals 733 hours.
C. Estimated Costs
Participation will not impose any start-up, capital, or labor
expenditures. The costs to respondents involve only the time expended
to play the Admongo online game and/or take the online advertising
literacy test or complete a screening questionnaire. Participation in
the evaluation is voluntary; respondents are drawn from existing pools
of Internet panelists (i.e., households that have already indicated
they are willing and able to take part in Internet research), and
participants and their parents are free to refuse the invitation to
participate in any particular study. All students (or their parents)
will be compensated at the standard rate by the market research company
that recruits them and runs the experiment. Treatment-group students
are expected to be compensated more than control-group students due to
the former group's substantially larger time commitment.
D. Analysis of Comments Received
The Commission received one comment regarding the proposed
collection of information. The commenter was a private citizen who
offered several observations on the proposed study design. First, the
commenter pointed out that the sample is restricted to children with
Internet access at home, limiting the generalizability of the results.
In response, we note that although use of an Internet panel may limit
generalizability of results, the household-level information collected
from a screening questionnaire administered to parents should at least
provide information on how the sample differs from the universe of
interest. Second, the commenter noted that an evaluation of Admongo's
effectiveness could be helpful to the FTC's child-directed outreach
efforts, but that if few children access Admongo, then a study of its
effectiveness is not needed. In response, we point out that the
objective of the proposed study is to evaluate the potential
effectiveness of the Admongo online game, which is independent of the
actual use of the game. A finding of a beneficial effect could lead to
wider use of Admongo. Third, the commenter expresses concern that the
control and treatment groups may differ in ways that will confound
measurement of Admongo's effect. In response, we note that
participating students within each age-sex cell will be randomly
assigned to control and treatment groups, minimizing the chances that
the groups will differ systematically. And, fourth, the commenter
suggested asking participants' parents to certify that their children
have received no assistance when completing the ad literacy test. In
response, we find this a sensible suggestion and will consult with the
market research company on the feasibility of obtaining such a
certification from parents.
E. Request for Comment
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 26, 2015.
Write ``Admongo Evaluation, FTC File No. P085200'' on your comment.
Your comment, including your name and your state, will be placed on the
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable,
on the public Commission Web site, at https://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to
remove individuals' home contact information from comments before
placing them on the Commission Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/admongoevaluationpra2, by following the instructions on the web-
based form. If this Notice appears at https://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Admongo
Evaluation, FTC File No. P085200'' on your comment and on the envelope,
and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
J), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at https://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before March 31, 2015. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
[[Page 9723]]
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm. For supporting
documentation and other information underlying the PRA discussion in
this Notice, see https://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/PRA/praDashboard.jsp.
David C. Shonka,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2015-03672 Filed 2-23-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
