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Big name celebrities getting sued over Crypto

November and December of 2022 might be a turning point for cryptocurrency and closely related NFTs (the latter getting some play in the forthcoming eighteenth edition of Essentials of Marketing). The crash of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and arrest of its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have awakened many people to crypto.

If there are things my students are interested in, I have found get rich quick (read crypto and NFTs – example in image) and celebrities are near the top of the list. And they have long been interested in the legal issues of marketing—particularly those related to Promotion. This CNN.com article, “Why Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Jimmy Fallon and other celebrities are getting sued over crypto,” describes a class-action lawsuit filed against these celebrities and more.

A 2017 SEC Statement indicated: “Celebrities and others are using social media networks to encourage the public to purchase stocks and other investments. These endorsements may be unlawful if they do not disclose the nature, source, and amount of any compensation paid, directly or indirectly, by the company in exchange for the endorsement.”

Your students may ask you about them, and now you might understand the rationale behind the lawsuits better. Or you may want to head that discussion off at the pass when you lecture on legal issues and Promotion (Chapters 13, 15, and 16).

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