Surreptitious advertising

Surreptitious advertising (stealth marketing)[1] refers to secretive communication practices which potentially mislead the public about products or services. According to the EU's Television Without Frontiers (TWF) Directive,[2][3] misleading representations of products are considered intentional "in particular if it is done in return for payment or for similar consideration."[4]

History

In the 1920s Edward Bernays resorted to surreptitious advertising for the American Tobacco Company (ATC): he discovered that women regarded cigarettes as phallic symbols of male power and therefore unsuitable for women. Hired by ATC president George Washington Hill, Bernays wanted to make smoking attractive to women. With the help of his secretary he employed a group of women, asked them to dress up like suffragettes on strike and sent them marching along New York's Fifth Avenue. When reporters started taking their pictures, the women lit cigarettes and proclaimed them "torches of freedom".

References

  1. ↑ Stealth marketing offers new advertising opportunities without adding to the interruptions by commercials.
  2. ↑ EU advertising laws can apply to surreptitious ads even if payment not made, rules EC, 13 June 2011
  3. ↑ "ECJ Judgment in case C-52/10: about the notion and the relevance of the "surreptitious advertising"". MediaLaws. 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
  4. ↑ Unternehmensberatung, ADVOKAT. "§ 1a ORF-G (ORF-Gesetz), Begriffsbestimmungen - JUSLINE Österreich". www.jusline.at (in German). Archived from the original on 21 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
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