Electronic retailing self-regulation program

The Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (ERSP) is a self-regulatory program created in 2004 by American business organizations to promote consumer confidence. ERSP is a program of the Electronic Retailing Association in conjunction with the National Advertising Review Council (NARC) and administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The mission of the program is to enhance consumer confidence in electronic retailing, by providing a forum to self-regulate direct response advertising.

ERSP was created for several reasons, to: improve consumer confidence in electronic retailing; demonstrate the strong commitment of this industry to effective self-regulation; provide a quick and efficient mechanism for review of high-profile advertising (such as weight-loss advertising) and affecting the discontinuance of advertising containing egregious claims. ERSP investigates the truth and accuracy of claims in direct response advertising from inquiries brought to ERSP’s attention through competitor’s challenges, consumer’s concerns, or through ERSP’s ongoing monitoring program. Working as a voluntary program, ERSP is an efficient and useful tool to assist direct response marketers with timely and cost effective measures to minimize government interference and increase consumer confidence.

The direct response industry includes long-form (infomercial) productions, short-form commercials, live home shopping channels, print advertising, Internet marketing, cell phone advertising, broadband channels, and radio advertising. Anything that has a direct link to the marketer: either a 1-800 number, email, or website is within ERSP’s purview.

ERSP inquires about the evidentiary support that a marketer possesses for product claims communicated through any form of direct-response advertising. Advertising claims come to ERSP’s attention through competitive challenges and ERSP’s ongoing monitoring program.

Among the most significant benefits afforded by this program are:
• speed – the ERSP mandate is to resolve all inquiries within 60 calendar days
• cost –low cost alternative to litigation
• burden of proof – ERSP does not require that injury to a consumer be proven as may be required by law and
• confidentiality – a company may bring cases anonymously to ERSP and, conversely, any proprietary information submitted confidentially will remain so in an ERSP challenge.

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