Civil Liability for False Advertising In the Iranian and American Legal Systems with Emphasis on Moral Principles

Today, advertising has a wide influence and an important place in economic and social systems. Despite the benefits of advertising for consumers in terms of creating awareness, manufacturers and distributors as well as advertising industry actors in terms of business prosperity and the media and governments in terms of financial strength and economic promotion, there are also serious harms to the advertising industry, of which false advertising is a prime example. The purpose of this study is to explain the ethical and legal principles governing advertising from the perspective of false advertising and to express the principles of civil liability resulting from false advertising in the Iranian and American legal systems.

The present research is done in a descriptive-analytical method by using library (documentary) resources.

 Principles related to research ethics have been observed in terms of fidelity in quoting texts and preserving the originality of the article.

No Harm, maintaining customer independence, fairness, honesty, respect and transparency are among the important ethical and legal principles on how to deal with false advertising. False advertising has been considered in the Iranian and American legal systems, along with scattered laws and regulations. In the discussion of civil liability, the place of general rules is more prominent in both legal systems, especially in consumer protection. Under US law, the Federal Trade Commission and judicial precedents have played an active role in regulating, interpreting, and prosecuting civil liability claims arising from advertising. The basis of civil liability arising from false advertising is affected by the nature of the advertisement, the position of the advertiser (orderer, creator and publisher) and the contractual or noncontractual approach to liability. In order to prove the civil liability arising from advertising, a harmful act (committing one of the examples of false advertising) and a loss due to it are necessary.

The spread of false advertising, in addition to directly harming the customers, leads to major moral and cultural damage, especially the loss of public trust. The mechanism of the civil liability system (including regulation and decisive implementation) can help to prevent immorality and violations in this area by considering the ethical and legal principles surrounding advertising. In the legal system of Iran and the United States, it can be said that the basis of civil liability of the person ordering the advertisement (business owner) for making a false statement that has caused loss, is pure liability or at least a presumption of fault. Advertising creators and publishers are also responsible in case of fault (if proving that they know the information was untrue or typically were known). The need for coherence and legislative integration is evident in both the Iranian and American legal systems.