The Week in PR

Legal: We talk to brand communicators, even those who work for relatively large ones, who remain unaware of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations pertaining to paid influencers. We’ve written about them often, including an item on this page last week. The FTC has publicized its requirements that celebs paid to endorse products on social disclose that fact prominently in the post or video. We’re guessing an Aug. 22 move by the nonprofit Truth in Advertising, Inc. (TIA), may do as much or more to publicize the regs than the FTC’s webinar series. The group publically blasted the Kardashian family and brands they represent for failing to disclose that these mega celebrities are paid to push products on social. While TIA has no legal authority, it threatened to complain to the FTC should the Kardashians fail to follow the rules. With the Kardashians’ tremendous social media following, the FTC has to be grateful to TIA for spreading the word. – Speaking of regs that communicators sometimes fail to know about but should, a story concerning Chipotle and tweets provides useful lessons. The major one: Make sure your brand’s social media policy meets National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regulations. NLRB Aug. 18 ruled four of Chipotle’s social media guidelines were illegal because they infringed on employees’ free speech rights. The case arose when Chipotle employee James Kennedy posted tweets that were detrimental to the Chipotle brand. His manager ordered him to remove the tweets. Later, in 2015, he was fired for an altercation related to a petition he was circulating. Long story short, Chipotle was ordered to amend the offending social media policies, rehire Kennedy and pay him for the time he was unemployed.

Note to Subscribers:FTC and NLRB documents and other resources pertaining to influencers and social media policies have recently been added to the PR News Pro Essentials Page at: prnewsonline.com/pr-news-pro-essentials/

M&A: Another month, another Finn Partners acquisition. Well, with the recent flurry of activity it seems that way. Finn Partners, Aug. 23 said it agreed to acquire LANE, a firm headquartered in Portland, OR. It’s Finn’s first move into the Pacific Northwest. LANE will become part of Finn Partners West, headed by Howard Solomon, managing partner. “Our plan is to leverage our strong base in the U.S. to continue our expansion in Europe and into Asia Pacific,” said Peter Finn, founding partner, Finn Partners. The firm last month acquired Greenfield Belser. “I anticipate the pace of M&As to continue, as an increasing number of buyers and sellers are realizing that bigger is better,” said Rick Gould, CPA, J.D., managing partner of Gould+Partners.

People: FleishmanHillard Aug. 26 named Emily Frager GM for Los Angeles and Orange County. She re-joins from Lennar Ventures, where she’s been CMO since 2014. Frager replaces Mitch Germann who departs to lead global communications for Nike’s Jordan Brand. Frager joined FH for the first time in 1998 and since then held senior positions in the firm’s Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Diego offices. As for Germann, he said, “There was literally only one place in the world that could take me away from FleishmanHillard. Words can’t begin to express how grateful I am for my time here, the lifelong friendships I’ve built and the power of the FH global network – I’ll always be part of the FH family.” -- Ogilvy PR said global CCO and PR News Pro friend Robyn Massey left the company. She assumed her role in June 2015, after several years in London, where she was VP of corporate communications and head of external relations and partnerships at Ketchum. Global head of media relations Jennifer Risi will expand her duties and add the global CCO post, Ogilvy said Aug. 21. Risi joined Ogilvy in 2011. Prior to that she’d been at Weber Shandwick for 12 years. Ogilvy said Massey was leaving “to pursue other creative, entrepreneurial ventures.” – Macy’s named former Toys R Us exec Richard Lennox its CMO. He replaces Martine Reardon, who served Macy’s for 32 years. Prior to Toys R Us, Lennox was at Zales and J. Walter Thompson. Earlier this month, Macy’s said it plans to close 100 of its 728 stores by early 2017. – Longtime Viacom communications exec Carole Robinson was named BuzzFeed’s first CCO Aug 22. Based in BuzzFeed’s NY office, she will report to CEO Jonah Peretti and begin Sept. 6. She left Viacom last year.