Say I won a GaJillion dollars in the lottery and wanted to appease my eccentricities.
Could I get away with producing and airing commercials on television and ads in magazines/newspapers/radio for fantastic products that simply do not exist? The purpose being to drive folks nuts looking for this stuff.
Could I get away with producing and airing commercials for products that do exist but I have no ties to the manufacturer of. For example, I want to make a commercial telling people how much I like Heinz Ketchup. How rich, thick, and delicious I think it is, and what a good value I think it is. This is an ad airing my opinions. Could I be barred from doing so? Could Heinz stop me from airing my opinions?
I want to produce a sit-com based on Pete Townshends song Slit Skirts. If every network refused to air it, could I instead buy commercial time and air it in that slot?
Could I legally air a commercial of me saying how I don’t like someone and I’m glad they don’t live anywhere near me. This ad wouldn’t make any slanderous statements, it would just be me identifying someone by name and me saying I don’t like them and I’m glad I don’t live near them.
It’s illegal to pay for sex. Is there any law that prevents me to pay people not to have sex? I see a young couple on a date in a bar and it’s obvious they’re hot for each other and sometime during the night they’ll be bumping uglies. Is there any law anywhere in the U.S. that says I can’t pay them to abstain for the night?
What other nutball things could I actually get away with?
False advertising is against the law. Doesn’t matter how rich you are.
If you wanted to air your opinions and it was clear that it was your opinion then sure (if you can find someone to sell you the air time…they don’t have to but with a gajillion dollars you could start your own network).
Again, they do not have to sell you time or buy your show but if some network agrees to it then sure. Satire is protected speech.
Yes but you are perilously close to slander and being rich you are a juicy target for a law suit. Remember public figures have less protection than non-public figures. So, if you said you would not want to live near Obama you are safer than if you said you do not want to live near Whack-a-Mole. And again, no one has to sell you air time.
You could do that. Good luck proving it and getting your money back if you think they had sex anyway.
I think you will find that regardless of your resources many media outlets and organizations will refuse to carry your message if they think it is out of line or might offend their customer base.
You can pay for people to perform like dancing puppets, but getting people to do any kind of dangerous stuff would likely get you sued at some point as a deep pocket. The great thing about being super rich is that people will generally do stupid shit for free to curry your favor or in the anticipation you will reward them somehow. Being really rich often means you don’t have to pay for stuff.
How much is a “gajillion dollars”, actually? Keep in mind that media outlets are owned by billion-dollar corporations who are unlikely to be impressed with your fat wallet.
On the other hand, your idea of paying couples to not have sex sounds like a great premise for a reality show.
False advertising is advertising that claims an existing product will do something that it doesn’t. How can this definition fit advertising a product that does not exist?
If you can find the product that I’m advertising (you won’t) prove it doesn’t do what I said it would do. How can a consumer be ripped off by a product he can not purchase?
Simple. I pay them to get on long non-stop flights and I personally see them off at the airport. I pay others to chaperon.
He goes to Rome where he immediately get’s on a flight back home, she goes to Tokyo where she immediately gets on a flight back to the U.S… They get half their money when they leave, the other half if they return immediately.
(the money is cash and is actually cut in half, making it worthless until they return).
TV and radio stations aren’t going to ruin their reputations by letting you run ads that are for the sole purpose of knocking others. But if you were super rich you could buy a TV or radio station and use it to broadcast your views.
Opinion has long been protected in the United States, though not in all other Western countries. The Supreme Court ruled on this years ago, as long as it’s clear that the statements are opinion it’s fine. This is why Op-Ed pieces in the newspapers make it clear these are not their opinions and their editorials are placed in a separate section.
Being super rich would leave you open for a lawsuit even if unjustified, but you could always counter sue for costs and nuisance, so that would tend to eliminate most of that.
This reminds me of the Designing Women episode, where she’d offended by a magazine stand selling pornographic magazines, so she runs her car through it, and then promptly tells the owner, “Fine I’ll pay for the cost.” And she keeps doing it again and again, always paying for the cost of repair. The point is she doesn’t like it and will pay to keep others from using the magazine stand.
Apparently the dude who own Facebook now kills all his own meat. I keep imaging some goatherd in sub-Saharan Africa hearing this and thinking 'Dude, I can come up with better ways to spend money than that."
First, think big. You’re on the right track with putting people on airplanes to appease your tiniest whim.
Now that you’re thinking big, buy one of the satelite providers. Don’t buy one piddly network, control lots of them.
Now when you want to air your weird-o commercials, you have real pull. Air my ad, or I drop your network.
However, you’re still going to have problems with ads for imaginary products. That still counts as false advertising. You are claiming the product exists, that is false.
