Services

Complying with Canadian advertising laws can be challenging for brands and agencies. Advertising in Canada is highly regulated. Some of the practical challenges include consistent enforcement by the Competition Bureau, CRTC and other enforcement agencies, increasing regulatory and enforcement focus on digital advertising (e.g., influencer marketing, online price claims and drip-pricing, online disclaimers and disclosures and Canada’s anti-spam legislation, CASL) and adapting advertising and marketing campaigns to new technology, platforms and social media.

We help clients practically navigate Canada’s advertising and marketing laws and offer Canadian advertising law services in relation to print, online, new media, social media and e-mail marketing and electronic marketing.

Canadian Advertising and Marketing Law Services

Our services include legal advice in relation to the general misleading advertising provisions of the Canada’s federal Competition Actcompetition law compliance programs, anti-spam law (CASL), Competition Bureau and other complaints and investigations, seeking Competition Bureau advisory opinions, Internet, new media and social media advertising and marketing, provincial consumer protection legislation, consumer packaging and labeling legislation, running contests/sweepstakes in Canada and sales and other promotions.

We also provide advice in relation to specific types of advertising and marketing issues, including performance claims, endorsements/testimonials, influencer marketing, disclaimers and disclosures, native advertising and astroturfing and co-sponsor, influencer and list sharing agreements.

For more information about the specific advertising and marketing law services that we offer please see: Advertising Law, Anti-Spam (CASL), Compliance, Internet and New Media and Promotional Contests.

Canadian Advertising and Marketing
Legal Precedents

In addition to our legal services, we also offer a range of Canadian advertising and marketing related precedents, forms and checklists for Canadian contests/sweepstakes and to assist companies comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL).

For more information, see: Canadian Contest Forms and Canadian CASL Forms.

Who Are Our Clients?

We practice federal Canadian law and Ontario law.  As such, we frequently act for companies, associations, not-for-profit organizations, governments, advertising agencies and communications firms and individuals in Toronto and across Canada and the United States. Over the past 20 years we have provided competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing, contest/sweepstakes, CASL and regulatory law advice to clients in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Industry Experience

Industry sectors in which we have worked in the competition and advertising law areas include:

Accounting associations, advertising agencies, agriculture, agricultural manufacturers, airlines, airports, architectural woodworking, architects, associations, automobile dealers, automobile repair, biscuits, broadcasting, car dealerships, cat food, cement, charities, chicken farmers, children’s playgrounds, chiropractors, clothing, clothing manufacturers, computers, computer hardware, consulting, construction associations, construction materials, copper mining, defence procurement, destination marketing, diamonds, digital media, direct marketing, dog food, energy, financial services, float plane airlines, floor plan finance, food, forestry, gaming, gem polishing, gold mining, golf retailers, grain elevators, hedge funds, hotels, insurance, labour unions, LCD monitors, manufacturing, media, mining, news wire services, online contests, online gaming, online search engine ranking, outfitting and hunting expeditions, oil change services, paper, pencils, pet food, pharmacies, plastics, plastic manufacturers, port terminal grain handling facilities, potash, printing, pulp and paper, rail, real estate, real estate self-storage, real estate associations, real estate boards, real estate services, real estate brokerages, recycling, residential high-rise construction, residential home construction, retail, retail books, retail clothing, roofing shingles, satellite communications, silver mining, social media, software, sports broadcasting, stock exchange services, telecommunications, telemarketing, theatre exhibition and film distribution, time shares, tires, tourism, trade associations, trailer leasing, transportation, travel agencies, upstream oil and gas, vacuum cleaner manufacturing, vitamins, window retailers, windows and door manufacturers.

Representative Work

Some of our recent competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing and contest law work for Toronto, Canadian and international clients includes:

Association competition law compliance, including in-person and online compliance programs for some of Canada’s largest associations; competition compliance for a major global construction products company; competition law compliance programs for small and large companies; advertising and marketing law advice (including for several of Canada’s and the world’s leading brands, local Canadian governments and several international governments); submissions to the Competition Bureau; filing Competition Bureau complaints; competition and advertising law related memoranda, applications for Competition Bureau advisory opinions; Canadian price-fixing cases; immunity applications to the Competition Bureau; contest law advice including for several local and international governments; competition law seminars and presentations for industry groups; drafting contest rules/forms; and assisting litigation counsel with competition law theory and strategies.