Lord & Taylor, LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment, 15523-15525 [2016-06573]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 56 / Wednesday, March 23, 2016 / Notices (a) Participant Activity Report (b) Investment Performance Report (c) Legislative Report 3. Office of Enterprise Risk Management Report FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Change in Bank Control Notices; Acquisitions of Shares of a Bank or Bank Holding Company The notificants listed below have applied under the Change in Bank Control Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)) and § 225.41 of the Board’s Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.41) to acquire shares of a bank or bank holding company. The factors that are considered in acting on the notices are set forth in paragraph 7 of the Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)(7)). The notices are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The notices also will be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing to the Reserve Bank indicated for that notice or to the offices of the Board of Governors. Comments must be received not later than April 7, 2016. A. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Jacquelyn K. Brunmeier, Assistant Vice President) 90 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55480–0291: 1. Ernest E. Erickson, Page, North Dakota; to acquire voting shares of Quality Bankshares, Inc., Page, North Dakota, and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of Quality Bank, Fingal, North Dakota. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, March 18, 2016. Margaret McCloskey Shanks, Deputy Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. 2016–06525 Filed 3–22–16; 8:45 am] FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD Sunshine Act; Notice of Meeting jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Agenda Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board Member Meeting 77 K Street NE., Board Meeting Room— 10th Floor Washington, DC 20002 DATE: March 29, 2016. TIME: 8:30 a.m. (In-Person). Parts will be open to the public and parts will be closed to the public. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: Open Session 1. Approval of the Minutes of the February 22, 2016 Board Member Meeting 2. Monthly Reports 17:45 Mar 22, 2016 CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: Kimberly Weaver, Director, Office of External Affairs, (202) 942–1640. Dated: March 21, 2016. Megan Grumbine, General Counsel, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. [FR Doc. 2016–06699 Filed 3–21–16; 4:15 pm] BILLING CODE P FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION [File No. 152–3181] Lord & Taylor, LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment Federal Trade Commission. Proposed consent agreement. AGENCY: ACTION: Jkt 238001 The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent order—embodied in the consent agreement—that would settle these allegations. SUMMARY: Comments must be received on or before April 14, 2016. ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https:// ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ lordtaylorconsent online or on paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ‘‘Lord & Taylor, LLC— Consent Agreement; File No. 152–3181’’ on your comment and file your comment online at https:// ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ lordtaylorconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ‘‘Lord & Taylor, LLC— Consent Agreement; File No. 152–3181’’ 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 D), Washington, DC 20580, PO 00000 Frm 00026 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 D), Washington, DC 20024. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 4. Security Adjourn DATES: BILLING CODE 6210–01–P VerDate Sep<11>2014 Close Session 15523 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Robin Rosen Spector, Attorney, (202) 326–3740, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580. Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained from the FTC Home Page (for March 15, 2016), on the World Wide Web at: https://www.ftc.gov/ os/actions.shtm. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 14, 2016. Write ‘‘Lord & Taylor, LLC—Consent Agreement; File No. 152–3181’’ 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 E:\FR\FM\23MRN1.SGM 23MRN1 jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES 15524 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 56 / Wednesday, March 23, 2016 / Notices 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, in his or her sole discretion, 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/ lordtaylorconsent 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 file your comment on paper, write ‘‘Lord & Taylor, LLC—Consent Agreement; File No. 152–3181’’ 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 D), 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 D), 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 April 14, 2016. You can find 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). VerDate Sep<11>2014 15:26 Mar 22, 2016 Jkt 238001 more information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the Commission’s privacy policy, at https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm. Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment The Federal Trade Commission (‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) has accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from Lord & Taylor, LLC (‘‘Lord & Taylor’’). The proposed consent order (‘‘proposed order’’) has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement or make final the agreement’s proposed order. This matter involves Lord & Taylor’s use of paid spokespersons to promote, in social media, its private label line, ‘‘Design Lab,’’ an apparel collection aimed at women ages eighteen to thirtyfive. The Commission’s complaint alleges that Lord & Taylor paid fifty fashion influencers to wear and simultaneously post on Instagram photos of a particular Design Lab item— the Paisley Asymmetrical Dress. In most instances, the Instagram post did not mention any connection between the influencer and Lord & Taylor. The complaint also alleges that Lord & Taylor sponsored an article, also featuring the dress, that appeared to be an independent and objective review of the Design Lab collection in an online fashion magazine. The article did not disclose the connection between Lord & Taylor and the magazine. The complaint alleges that Lord & Taylor violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by misrepresenting that the Instagram images and captions reflected the independent statements of impartial fashion influencers, when, in fact, the postings were created as part of an advertising campaign for Lord & Taylor. The complaint further alleges that Lord & Taylor violated Section 5 by failing to disclose that the fashion influencers were paid endorsers. Finally, the complaint alleges that that Lord & Taylor misrepresented that the article that appeared on the fashion magazine Web site and the Design Lab posting on the magazine’s Instagram account were independent statements or opinions regarding the launch of the Design Lab collection when, in fact, the article and posting were paid commercial advertising. PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 The proposed order includes injunctive relief to address these alleged violations and requires Lord & Taylor to follow certain monitoring and compliance procedures related to its use of paid spokespersons or endorsers. Part I of the proposed order prohibits Lord & Taylor, in connection with the advertising of any product or service, from misrepresenting that an endorser of such product or service is an independent user or ordinary consumer of the product or service. Part II of the proposed order requires Lord & Taylor, in connection with the advertising of any product or service by means of an endorsement, to disclose clearly and conspicuously, and in close proximity to the representation, a material connection, if one exists, between the endorser and Lord & Taylor. Part III of the proposed order prohibits Lord & Taylor from misrepresenting that paid commercial advertising is a statement or opinion from an independent or objective publisher or source. Part IV of the proposed order sets out certain monitoring and compliance obligations that Lord & Taylor must meet with respect to any endorser with a material connection to Lord & Taylor, including: Obtaining signed acknowledgements from such endorsers that they will disclose their connection to Lord & Taylor; monitoring the endorsers’ representations and disclosures; maintaining records of its monitoring efforts; and terminating endorsers who fail to disclose their connection to Lord & Taylor; provided, however, that if Lord & Taylor reasonably determines that an endorser’s failure to disclose was inadvertent, it may provide an endorser with one notice of the failure to disclose and an opportunity to cure the disclosure prior to termination. Parts V through VIII of the proposed order require Lord & Taylor to: Keep copies of advertisements and promotional materials containing the representations or endorsements, contracts with endorsers and communications regarding disclosures required by Part II of the proposed order, relevant consumer complaints and inquiries, and documents demonstrating order compliance; provide copies of the order to officers, employees, and others with responsibilities with respect to the subject matter of the order; notify the Commission of changes in corporate structure that might affect compliance obligations under the order; and file compliance reports with the Commission. E:\FR\FM\23MRN1.SGM 23MRN1 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 56 / Wednesday, March 23, 2016 / Notices Part IX of the proposed order provides that the order will terminate after twenty (20) years, with certain exceptions. The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the proposed order, and it is not intended to constitute an official interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify the proposed order’s terms in any way. By direction of the Commission. Donald S. Clark, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2016–06573 Filed 3–22–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6750–01–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Docket No. CDC–2015–0112] 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces the availability of the 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. CDC published the Guideline in the March 18, 2016 edition of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Recommendations and Reports. This notice provides the public with official notice of the availability of the Guideline. SUMMARY: CDC published the Guideline on March 18, 2016 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Recommendations and Reports. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arlene I. Greenspan, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE., Mailstop F– 63, Atlanta, Georgia 30341. Telephone: (770) 488–4694; email: duipinquiries@cdc.gov. DATES: On December 14, 2015, CDC published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the opening of a docket for public comment on the draft 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain (81 FR 77351). CDC also had a public comment opportunity during the National Center for Injury jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VerDate Sep<11>2014 15:26 Mar 22, 2016 Jkt 238001 Prevention and Control’s Board of Scientific Counselors meeting on January 28, 2016. CDC developed the Guideline to provide recommendations about opioid prescribing for primary care providers who are treating adult patients with chronic pain in outpatient settings, outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care. The Guideline summarizes scientific knowledge about the effectiveness and risks of long-term opioid therapy and provides recommendations for when to initiate or continue opioids for chronic pain; opioid selection, dosage, duration, follow-up, and discontinuation; and assessing risk and addressing harms of opioid use. CDC received more than 4,350 public comments on the draft Guideline from professional organizations, industry, academia, and the public. All comments were carefully reviewed and considered in the development of the final Guideline. The ‘‘CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain—United States, 2016’’ has been added to the docket and can also be found at www.cdc.gov/MMWR. Dated: March 17, 2016. Sandra Cashman, Executive Secretary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [FR Doc. 2016–06567 Filed 3–22–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163–18–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Health Resources and Services Administration Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Public Comment Request Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: In compliance with the requirement for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects (Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announces plans to submit an Information Collection Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Prior to submitting the ICR to OMB, HRSA seeks comments from the public regarding the burden estimate, below, or any other aspect of the ICR. SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 15525 Comments on this Information Collection Request must be received no later than May 23, 2016. ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to paperwork@hrsa.gov or mail the HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, Room 14N–39, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and draft instruments, email paperwork@hrsa.gov or call the HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer at (301) 443–1984. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When submitting comments or requesting information, please include the information request collection title for reference. Information Collection Request Title: Corps Community Event Form. OMB No.: 0915–0362 Extension. Abstract: Corps Community Month, formerly Corps Community Day, was created in 2011 and celebrates the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) every October. The NHSC is a program administered by the Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) within HRSA. The goals of Corps Community Month encompass the following: Increase awareness of the NHSC to potential applicants and the greater primary health community; create a sense of community and connectedness among NHSC program participants, alumni, partners and staff; and underscore the NHSC’s role in bringing primary health care services to the nation’s neediest communities. Current program participants, alumni, NHSC Ambassadors, sites, primary care organizations, and professional associations plan events and report the details of their events to BHW so that they can be added to the state-by-state map of events. In order to avoid duplication of effort, eliminate confusion regarding allowable event dates, avoid data entry errors, and implement a brief post-event satisfaction survey, BHW would like to continue to use the standard form that event planners use to report to BHW. The fillable form is available online and has 26 fields for event planners to populate to submit for inclusion on the map. There are also approximately 5 fields to populate following the event to measure satisfaction. Both the pre-event and post-event data fields are held in one form. Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The information collected is used and needed to highlight the impact of BHW and the NHSC programs in underserved and rural areas as part DATES: E:\FR\FM\23MRN1.SGM 23MRN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15523-15525]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06573]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 152-3181]


Lord & Taylor, LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid 
Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both 
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent 
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these 
allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 14, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/lordtaylorconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Lord & Taylor, LLC--
Consent Agreement; File No. 152-3181'' on your comment and file your 
comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/lordtaylorconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. 
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Lord & Taylor, 
LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 152-3181'' 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 D), 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 
D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin Rosen Spector, Attorney, (202) 
326-3740, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for March 15, 2016), on the World Wide Web at: 
https://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 14, 2016. 
Write ``Lord & Taylor, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 152-3181'' 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

[[Page 15524]]

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, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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/lordtaylorconsent 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 file your comment on paper, write ``Lord & Taylor, LLC--
Consent Agreement; File No. 152-3181'' 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 D), 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 
D), 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 April 14, 2016. You can find more information, 
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the 
Commission's privacy policy, at https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has 
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent 
order from Lord & Taylor, LLC (``Lord & Taylor'').
    The proposed consent order (``proposed order'') has been placed on 
the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by 
interested persons. Comments received during this period will become 
part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will 
again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide 
whether it should withdraw from the agreement or make final the 
agreement's proposed order.
    This matter involves Lord & Taylor's use of paid spokespersons to 
promote, in social media, its private label line, ``Design Lab,'' an 
apparel collection aimed at women ages eighteen to thirty-five. The 
Commission's complaint alleges that Lord & Taylor paid fifty fashion 
influencers to wear and simultaneously post on Instagram photos of a 
particular Design Lab item--the Paisley Asymmetrical Dress. In most 
instances, the Instagram post did not mention any connection between 
the influencer and Lord & Taylor. The complaint also alleges that Lord 
& Taylor sponsored an article, also featuring the dress, that appeared 
to be an independent and objective review of the Design Lab collection 
in an online fashion magazine. The article did not disclose the 
connection between Lord & Taylor and the magazine. The complaint 
alleges that Lord & Taylor violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by 
misrepresenting that the Instagram images and captions reflected the 
independent statements of impartial fashion influencers, when, in fact, 
the postings were created as part of an advertising campaign for Lord & 
Taylor. The complaint further alleges that Lord & Taylor violated 
Section 5 by failing to disclose that the fashion influencers were paid 
endorsers. Finally, the complaint alleges that that Lord & Taylor 
misrepresented that the article that appeared on the fashion magazine 
Web site and the Design Lab posting on the magazine's Instagram account 
were independent statements or opinions regarding the launch of the 
Design Lab collection when, in fact, the article and posting were paid 
commercial advertising.
    The proposed order includes injunctive relief to address these 
alleged violations and requires Lord & Taylor to follow certain 
monitoring and compliance procedures related to its use of paid 
spokespersons or endorsers.
    Part I of the proposed order prohibits Lord & Taylor, in connection 
with the advertising of any product or service, from misrepresenting 
that an endorser of such product or service is an independent user or 
ordinary consumer of the product or service.
    Part II of the proposed order requires Lord & Taylor, in connection 
with the advertising of any product or service by means of an 
endorsement, to disclose clearly and conspicuously, and in close 
proximity to the representation, a material connection, if one exists, 
between the endorser and Lord & Taylor.
    Part III of the proposed order prohibits Lord & Taylor from 
misrepresenting that paid commercial advertising is a statement or 
opinion from an independent or objective publisher or source.
    Part IV of the proposed order sets out certain monitoring and 
compliance obligations that Lord & Taylor must meet with respect to any 
endorser with a material connection to Lord & Taylor, including: 
Obtaining signed acknowledgements from such endorsers that they will 
disclose their connection to Lord & Taylor; monitoring the endorsers' 
representations and disclosures; maintaining records of its monitoring 
efforts; and terminating endorsers who fail to disclose their 
connection to Lord & Taylor; provided, however, that if Lord & Taylor 
reasonably determines that an endorser's failure to disclose was 
inadvertent, it may provide an endorser with one notice of the failure 
to disclose and an opportunity to cure the disclosure prior to 
termination.
    Parts V through VIII of the proposed order require Lord & Taylor 
to: Keep copies of advertisements and promotional materials containing 
the representations or endorsements, contracts with endorsers and 
communications regarding disclosures required by Part II of the 
proposed order, relevant consumer complaints and inquiries, and 
documents demonstrating order compliance; provide copies of the order 
to officers, employees, and others with responsibilities with respect 
to the subject matter of the order; notify the Commission of changes in 
corporate structure that might affect compliance obligations under the 
order; and file compliance reports with the Commission.

[[Page 15525]]

    Part IX of the proposed order provides that the order will 
terminate after twenty (20) years, with certain exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
proposed order, and it is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify the 
proposed order's terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-06573 Filed 3-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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