ValueClick agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission probe about lead generation, the company said Wednesday.
ValueClick also promised to adhere to guidelines
regarding lead generation, which often involves luring customers to sign up for services with offers of "free" merchandise.
"We have worked with the FTC and have reached an agreement on the
standards and practices that will govern our lead generation business going forward," David Yovanno, chief operating officer of the company's U.S. Media division, said in a statement. "We believe this
settlement will also help set the guidelines for the lead generation industry as a whole."
ValueClick did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The company did not specify
the new standards it agreed to in its settlement with the FTC. But the FTC in two previous
settlements regarding lead generation required that companies advertising free products also display any purchase-required disclaimers in the same font, color and size as the word "free."
The
Interactive Advertising Bureau recently unveiled its own best practices guide for
online lead generation that also recommend that companies offering "free" iPods and the like also display disclaimers that purchases are required in the same font, color and size as "free."
But
the IAB suggested less stringent requirements whereby consumers don't need to spend money to obtain the free merchandise, such as where all that's required is a free trial subscription. In those
cases, the IAB recommends that disclaimers only be in the same font and color--and not the same size--as the word "free."