What FTC’s Cole Haan Ruling Means for Marketers’ Pinterest Contests

A recent ruling against Cole Haan from the Federal Trade Commission puts marketers on notice that pinned content on Pinterest featuring a brand's product and generated via a contest must be clearly marked as a product endorsement. The FTC hasn't previously explicitly addressed whether a pin on Pinterest constitutes an endorsement, but the agency asserted in a recent letter that the brand created a deceptive situation because consumers didn't realize others had received an incentive for pinning the brand's products to Pinterest.