There is no exchange of goods, nothing purchased under false presences, therefore no fraud. Good luck to someone trying to prove damages,government or otherwise.
As identified earlier, you are advertising something that you do not have and have no intention of providing at that time. The sole purpose of your fraudulent advertisements is for your personal gain. There are indeed damages, possibly in the millions when the fraud is related to a park purchase.
I suggest you re-read the earlier threads and the www.ftc.gov web site.
The offer was made earlier for the test ad supporters to write a letter to the FTC/Attn Gen/BBB/etc and post the results on the forum. This would quickly clarify if the test ad usage is considered acceptable by the governing agencies. None of the test ad supporters were willing to do so. This confirms they all know the test ad usage is fraudulent, illegal and they will be required to stop using them.
If a reader wants to continue use of the illegal, fraudulent test ad, then the reader should be prepared for any disciplinary action or damages (including monetary) resulting from their illegal, fraudulent action.
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We have several parks in small towns (NE, IN, OH) and they are doing well. Several of these are county seats so that helps quite a bit. Also, depends on what you mean by small.
Bret
I think this could easily fall under the FTC rule Sec. 238.0 Bait advertising defined.
“Bait advertising is an alluring but insincere offer to sell a product or service which the advertiser in truth does not intend or want to sell”…Granted nothing is being “switched” for a more expensive product
but section Sec. 238.1 is pretty straight forward and I believe covers this case
“No advertisement containing an offer to sell a product should be published when the offer is not a bona fide effort to sell the advertised product.”
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/baitads-gd.htm “Note: Sales of advertised merchandise. Sales of the advertised merchandise do not preclude the existence of a bait and switch scheme. It has been determined that, on occasions, this is a mere incidental byproduct of the fundamental plan and is intended to provide an aura of legitimacy to the overall operation.”
test ads are a fraudulent practice in our industry and should NOT be recommended unless the experts have had this fully vetted by their attorney
there are plenty of other ways to judge your market…test ads are lazy not to mention illegal