BBB AdTruth^SM is an educational program that teaches consumers about potential advertising abuses and empowers them to report advertisements that could cause financial or personal harm due to problematic tactics or faulty products. The BBB AdTruth^SM program is managed by the Better Business Bureau Institute for Marketplace Trust, the 501(c)(3) arm of the Better Business Bureau that aims to promote trust among businesses and consumers.

Increasing Awareness
BBB AdTruth^SM launched a public service campaign in 2016 to spread awareness about problematic advertising. More than 217 million Americans learned about problematic advertisements through BBB AdTruth^SM’s radio and television public service announcements.

In addition to educating consumers via entertaining video vignettes, the BBB AdTruth^SM website offers interactive quizzes and infographics that help explain through examples and user interactions specific advertising tactics that can mislead consumers. 

Empowering Consumers
The BBB enterprise promotes a trustworthy marketplace by working with businesses to help ensure ethical and truthful advertising. In 2018, BBB AdTruth^SM launched a new online reporting tool that allows consumers to report questionable or confusing advertisements. Data provided through the BBB AdTruth^SM Reporting Tool will provide insights for future research into questionable advertising techniques. The reporting tool will also provide a strong feedback loop connecting consumer reporting of potential advertising abuses, the BBB Institute’s research, and the BBB Institute’s consumer education activities.

BBB AdTruth^SM Supporters
BBB AdTruth^SM’s public service campaign and the online reporting tool were made possible thanks to the support provided by a Cy Pres Award from the state of California and Google, Inc. 

Cy Pres Awards
The BBB Institute welcomes cy pres designations of unclaimed settlement funds from class action lawsuits, which we use to help create a trustworthy marketplace where consumers and businesses engage and prosper. Cy pres awards have enabled us to spread awareness about confusing or misleading advertising claims to more than 217 million people through the BBB AdTruth^SM public service campaign, and build the BBB AdTruth^SM reporting tool to enable consumers to report problematic ads. 

The BBB Institute fosters a trustworthy marketplace by creating programs to educate consumers about scams, fraud, and confusing or misleading advertising. Our work covers a wide range of consumer and business-related issues such as digital literacy, scam/fraud prevention, mitigating bias in the digital space, and identifying questionable claims in advertising. It seeks to provide a broad range of educational programs to a wide range of consumer groups, including the military, veterans, school children, students, and many others.

Thank you for considering the BBB Institute as a nominee for a cy pres designation. If you have any questions about the BBB Institute’s work to protect and educate consumers, and empower responsible businesses, please contact Melissa Trumpower at mtrumpower(at)iabbb.org.