• August 20, 2007

National alarm company ADT will donate $1,000 to charity, and has vowed not to advertise or solicit "in a manner which could be construed as capitalizing upon a tragic event."

The action comes in the wake of the company's having issued fliers in the Cheshire neighborhood where a woman and her daughters were brutally murdered in July, outraging homeowners.

The Hartford Courant reported in Saturday's edition that the Connecticut Consumer Protection Commission earlier this month ruled that the fliers were in violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The order establishes a precedent in terms of regulating such aggressive marketing following a tragedy in Connecticut--one with which not everyone agrees.

"I think it would be a surprise to most of the state's businesses that the government thinks it can regulate not only the accuracy of [their] advertising but its tastefulness as well," David I. Albin, a Stamford lawyer who serves as chairman of the Connecticut Bar Association's business law division, told the Courant. -- Nina M. Lentini