Staying up late and watching bad commercials can be an interesting experience: You can see all sorts of shady characters parading themselves in front of an audience they think is merely local (I can get network affiliates from both Los Angeles and New York via Dish Network.), offering to do obscene things for money. I’m talking, of course, about low-rent lawyers.
Small print is a semi-legal professional’s friend, and it’s used to great effect in TV commercials. One I’ve noticed runs something like this: “This message shall not be construed as an offer in any jurisdiction where such an offer would not be legal.”
Eh? Can they do that? Can they say what the courts can and cannot construe something as? How deep does this little rabbit hole go?
Could I go on TV and legally offer to sell herion and MAC-10s with fine print like that?