Headlines

FTC Changes Jewelry Marketing Guidelines

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

INSTORE Staff

Latest recommendations are intended to protect quality.

High-end jewelers stand to benefit from the Federal Trade Commission’s new jewelry marketing guidelines, which are aimed at “low-market competitors who may skew marketing efforts to make jewelry appear of a higher quality,” according to Luxury Daily.

Specifically, the new guidelines are designed to help brand marketers avoid deceptive claims through the use of certain terminology. If you’re pitching lab-created diamonds, for example, then the FTC says it’s OK to refer to them as “cultured” only if the term is followed by “laboratory-created,” “laboratory-grown” or synthetic, the report says.

The guidelines, however, may be seen as toothless since the FTC’s recommendations are not laws. That perception could tempt low-market jewelry vendors with a distaste for the guidelines to intentionally ignore them and hope they don’t get caught.

The FTC is seeking public comment on their new recommendations from now until April 4, so if you have two cents to share, this is your chance.

Why This Jeweler Chose Wilkerson

Mark Lauer is the owner of Mark Michael Diamond Designs, the Minnesota-based jewelry gallery known for exceptional and uniquely designed diamond jewelry. Though he loved creating the beautiful jewelry his business was known for, retirement was an exciting alternative to the 60+ hours a week he’d spent building it up. He called Wilkerson to help with a retirement sale. “I did talk to two other companies, but I just didn’t feel they offered the same services that Wilkerson did,” he says. “I knew Wilkerson had the expertise to follow through and give me the service and results that I wanted. They’re the number one rock stars in this industry.”