57-396: Good Housekeeping is an American lifestyle media brand that covers a wide range of topics from home decor and renovation, health, beauty and food, to entertainment, pets and gifts. The Good Housekeeping Institute which opened its "Experiment Station" in 1900, specializes in product reviews by a staff of scientific experts. The GH Institute is known, in part, for the "Good Housekeeping Seal",
114-581: A driver of inflation for grocery prices. In August 2024, it announced it would be probing grocery prices to look for anti-competitive behavior and price gouging at chain supermarkets. In 2023, the FTC proposed a new rule that would ensure that the cancellation process of subscription services is as easy as the process of signing up. On October 16, 2024, the FTC announced the new rule, dubbed "click to cancel", requiring companies to make subscription services "as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it
171-450: A fact that was only disclosed in legalese, buried within the end user license agreement. The FTC secured a consent decree in the case. In In re Gateway Learning Corp. the FTC alleged that Gateway committed unfair and deceptive trade practices by making retroactive changes to its privacy policy without informing customers and by violating its own privacy policy by selling customer information when it had said it would not. Gateway settled
228-465: A federal court in Texas overturned the FTC's ban on non-compete agreements, which was originally scheduled to take effect on September 4, 2024. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown said the FTC did not have the authority to issue the ban, which she said was "unreasonably overbroad without a reasonable explanation." Victoria Graham, an FTC spokeswoman responded to the ruling by stating "We are seriously considering
285-480: A fine of US$ 50.1 million on OMICS companies. OMICS' lawyer said that this was an unfair allegation and that OMICS would sue FTC for $ 3.11 billion in damages, saying it had caused loss of revenue and reputation. In In the Matter of Sears Holdings Management Corp. , the FTC alleged that a research software program provided by Sears was deceptive because it collected information about nearly all online behavior,
342-596: A fortnightly magazine. The magazine became a monthly publication in 1891. The magazine achieved a circulation of 300,000 by 1911, at which time it was bought by the Hearst Corporation . It topped one million in the mid-1920s, and continued to rise, even during the Great Depression and its aftermath. In 1938, a year in which the magazine advertising dropped 22 percent, Good Housekeeping showed an operating profit of $ 2,583,202, more than three times
399-576: A limited warranty program that evaluates products to ensure they perform as intended. Good Housekeeping was founded in 1885 by American publisher and poet Clark W. Bryan . By the time of its acquisition by the Hearst Corporation in 1911, the magazine had grown to a circulation of 300,000 subscribers. By the early 1960s, it had over five million subscribers and was one of the world's most popular lifestyle magazines. On May 2, 1885, Clark W. Bryan founded Good Housekeeping in Holyoke, Massachusetts , as
456-654: A monthly tabloid attacking federal oversight. In 1939, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Good Housekeeping for "misleading and deceptive" guarantees including the Seal, and "exaggerated and false" claims in its advertisements. The publisher fought the proceedings for two years, during which time competing editors from the Ladies Home Journal and McCall's testified against Good Housekeeping . The FTC's ultimate ruling
513-410: A potential appeal..." The FTC successfully blocked Nvidia from purchasing ARM holdings in 2022. The FTC has pursued lawsuits against companies to lower drug prices, including for insulin and for inhalers. The FTC launched its investigation into pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in 2022. In July 2024, it released an interim report on its 2-year investigation into pharmacy benefit managers ,
570-690: A separate company would ultimately fail. Bryan, who had lived to see his business empire in financial ruin, and wife and one of his sons had passed in recent years, took his life on January 23, 1899, with a pistol. All of his publications were promptly discontinued, the sole exception being Good Housekeeping , which immediately found a purchaser, John Pettigrew, who would sell it to his printer George D. Chamberlain, who in turn sold it to E. H. Phelps, another former Springfield Republican associate, whose company, Phelps Publishing, had offices in Springfield and New York. Gradually reaching national prominence, it
627-783: A slightly amended version of his bill during the April 1913 special session. The national debate culminated in Wilson's signing of the FTC Act on September 26, 1914, with additional tightening of regulations in the Clayton Antitrust Act three weeks later. The new FTC would absorb the staff and duties of Bureau of Corporations , previously established under the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. The FTC could additionally challenge "unfair methods of competition" and enforce
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#1732801629220684-803: The "Experiment Station", the predecessor to the Good Housekeeping Research Institute (GHRI), now known as the Good Housekeeping Institute, was founded. In 1902, the magazine was calling this "An Inflexible Contract Between the Publisher and Each Subscriber". The formal opening of the headquarters of the GH Institute – the "Model Kitchen", "Testing Station for Household Devices", and "Domestic Science Laboratory" – occurred in January 1910. In 1909,
741-463: The 1912 election. Most political party platforms in 1912 endorsed the establishment of a federal trade commission with its regulatory powers placed in the hands of an administrative board, as an alternative to functions previously and necessarily exercised so slowly through the courts. With the 1912 presidential election decided in favor of the Democrats and Woodrow Wilson , Morgan reintroduced
798-657: The Bureau of Competition, the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and the Bureau of Economics. The Bureau of Competition is the division of the FTC charged with elimination and prevention of "anticompetitive" business practices. It accomplishes this through the enforcement of antitrust laws, review of proposed mergers , and investigation into other non-merger business practices that may impair competition. Such non-merger practices include horizontal restraints, involving agreements between direct competitors, and vertical restraints , involving agreements among businesses at different levels in
855-518: The Clayton Act's more specific prohibitions against certain price discrimination, vertical arrangements, interlocking directorates , and stock acquisitions. In 1984, the FTC began to regulate the funeral home industry in order to protect consumers from deceptive practices. The FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide all customers (and potential customers) with a General Price List (GPL), specifically outlining goods and services in
912-693: The Commission authorized filing a lawsuit for civil penalties. In addition, the funeral homes participate in the NFDA compliance program, which includes a review of the price lists, on-site training of the staff, and follow-up testing and certification on compliance with the Funeral Rule ." In the mid-1990s, the FTC launched the fraud sweeps concept where the agency and its federal, state, and local partners filed simultaneous legal actions against multiple telemarketing fraud targets. The first sweeps operation
969-582: The FTC authorized an administrative complaint against the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard , Inc. The FTC alleged the deal would suppress competitors from accessing future content/games developed by Activision once the deal goes through. The FTC dropped its lawsuit on July 20, 2023. Microsoft had to restructure its deal to appease UK regulators. Microsoft reneged on promises it made in court filings by laying off 1900 employees in January 2024, signaling that it did not plan to let Activision Blizzard remain as independent as it had promised and leading
1026-577: The FTC has enforced the provisions of the Clayton Act , a key antitrust statute, as well as the provisions of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 41 et seq. Over time, the FTC has been delegated with the enforcement of additional business regulation statutes and has promulgated a number of regulations (codified in Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations ). The broad statutory authority granted to
1083-596: The FTC provides it with more surveillance and monitoring abilities than it actually uses. The FTC is composed of five commissioners, who each serve seven-year terms. Members of the commission are nominated by the President and subject to Senate confirmation, and no more than three FTC members can be of the same party . One member of the body serves as FTC Chair at the President's pleasure, with Commissioner Lina Khan having served as chair since June 2021. Following
1140-517: The FTC sued Meta (formally known as Facebook) for anticompetitive conduct under Section 2 of the Sherman Act , which prohibits improper monopolization of a market. The FTC accused Meta of buying up its competitors to stifle competition which reduced the range of services available to consumers and by creating fewer social media platforms for advertisers to target. In September 2013, a federal court closed an elusive business opportunity scheme on
1197-555: The FTC to continue to appeal the decision. In July 2021, the FTC voted unanimously to enforce the right to repair as policy and to look to take action against companies that limit the type of repair work that can be done at independent repair shops. In October 2024, following a comment by the FTC to the US Copyright Office , an exemption was granted allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment, such as McDonald's ice cream machines . In December 2020
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#17328016292201254-597: The FTC's success in blocking or unwinding of hospital consolidations or affiliations: In 2011, the FTC successfully challenged in court the $ 195 million acquisition of Palmyra Medical Center by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. The FTC alleged that the transaction would create a monopoly as it would "reduce competition significantly and allow the combined Phoebe/Palmyra to raise prices for general acute-care hospital services charged to commercial health plans, substantially harming patients and local employers and employees". The Supreme Court on February 19, 2013, ruled in favor of
1311-408: The FTC. In November 2024, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and FTC Chair Khan, ruling the company a monopoly, and ordering Google to sell its Chrome web browser. The FTC ruled to ban virtually all non-competes nationwide in April 2024. The agency estimates 30 million workers are bound by these clauses and only excludes senior executives from
1368-469: The FTC. Similarly, court attempts by ProMedica health system in Ohio to overturn an order by the FTC to the company to unwind its 2010 acquisition of St. Luke's hospital were unsuccessful. The FTC claimed that the acquisition would hurt consumers through higher premiums because insurance companies would be required to pay more. In December 2011, an administrative judge upheld the FTC's decision, noting that
1425-408: The FTC. They were banned from processing credit card transactions, though the initial monetary judgment of $ 5.8 million was suspended due to the defendant's inability to pay. In 2016, the FTC launched action against the academic journal publisher OMICS Publishing Group for producing predatory journals and organizing predatory conferences . This action, partly in response to ongoing pressure from
1482-727: The Good Housekeeping Research Institute and a contributing editor whose "Question Box" feature ran for decades. Beginning with a "Beauty Clinic" in 1932, departments were added to the Institute, including a "Baby's Center", "Foods and Cookery", and a "Needlework Room". Some functioned as testing laboratories, while others were designed to produce editorial copy. In 1924, the British Good Housekeeping magazine set up its own Good Housekeeping Institute at 49 Wellington Street in Covent Garden, London. Its first director
1539-585: The Hearst Corporation created a British edition along the same lines, named British Good Housekeeping . Famous writers who have contributed to the magazine include A. J. Cronin , Betty Friedan , Frances Parkinson Keyes , Clara Savage Littledale , Edwin Markham , Somerset Maugham , Edna St. Vincent Millay , J. D. Salinger , Evelyn Waugh , and Virginia Woolf . Other contributors include advice columnists , chefs , and politicians . In 1900,
1596-589: The Hearst Corporation. In Russia, the magazine was published first as Domashny Ochag ("Good Home, or Hearth"), before changing its name to Novy Ochag ("New Home, or Hearth") sometime in July 2022. Published by Independent Media, and described as "a resource for women who take care of their homes, raise children, have successful careers and help others", Novy Ochag recorded a digital readership of 13 million in October 2023. Clark W. Bryan Clark W. Bryan
1653-547: The Rockford area and would have a market share of 64%. Later in 2012, OSF announced that it had abandoned its plans to acquire Rockford Health System. The commission is headed by five commissioners, who each serve seven-year terms. Commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate . No more than three commissioners can be of the same political party . In practice, this means that two commissioners are of
1710-602: The Supreme Court decisions against Standard Oil and American Tobacco in May 1911, the first version of a bill to establish a commission to regulate interstate trade was introduced on January 25, 1912, by Oklahoma congressman Dick Thompson Morgan . He would make the first speech on the House floor advocating its creation on February 21, 1912. Though the initial bill did not pass, the questions of trusts and antitrust dominated
1767-849: The academic community, is the first action taken by the FTC against an academic journal publisher. The complaint alleges that the defendants have been "deceiving academics and researchers about the nature of its publications and hiding publication fees ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars". It additionally notes that "OMICS regularly advertises conferences featuring academic experts who were never scheduled to appear in order to attract registrants" and that attendees "spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on registration fees and travel costs to attend these scientific conferences." Manuscripts are also sometimes held hostage, with OMICS refusing to allow submissions to be withdrawn and thereby preventing resubmission to another journal for consideration. Library scientist Jeffrey Beall has described OMICS as among
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1824-503: The advertisers. In its varying forms, the Seal became inextricably associated with the magazine, and many others (e.g., McCall's , Parents Magazine , and Better Homes and Gardens ) mimicked the practice. Good Housekeeping began to be published in the United Kingdom in 1922. William Randolph Hearst appointed Alice Maud Head initially as assistant editor. Head rose to be the managing director, as well as purportedly being
1881-553: The agency also alleged that the companies created a rebate system that prioritized high rebates from drug manufacturers, among other factors. The agency stated that several PBMs failed to provide documents in a timely manner and warned that it could take the companies to court to force them to comply, during the announcment in the preliminary findings. In September 2024, the FTC sued the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices that increased their profits while artificially inflating
1938-473: The agency requested documents from the six largest PBMs as part of its investigation. The three largest – UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx , Cigna's Express Scripts and CVS Health's Caremark – manage about 80% of U.S. prescriptions. The top three PBMs share a parent company with a large medical insurance company . The FTC accused these companies of raising drug prices through conflicts of interest , vertical integration , concentration, and exclusivity provisions;
1995-529: The ban on enforcing non-competes. The agency believes that this will allow workers to find better working conditions and pay, since switching companies, on average, provides the biggest pay raises. It also allows workers to leave abusive work environments and can prevent some doctors from having to leave medicine once they leave a practice. The ban was put on hold by U.S. District Judge Ada Brown on July 3, 2024, but then upheld on appeal by U.S. District Judge Kelley B. Hodge on July 23, 2024. On August 20, 2024,
2052-459: The behavior of ProMedica health system and St. Luke's was indeed anticompetitive. The court ordered ProMedica to divest St. Luke's to a buyer that would be approved by the FTC within 180 days of the date of the order. In November 2011, the FTC filed a lawsuit alleging that the proposed acquisition of Rockford by OSF would drive up prices for general acute-care inpatient services as OSF would face only one competitor (SwedishAmerican health system) in
2109-542: The complaint by entering into a consent decree with the FTC that required it to surrender some profits and placed restrictions upon Gateway for the following 20 years. In addition to prospective analysis of the effects of mergers and acquisitions, the FTC has recently resorted to retrospective analysis and monitoring of consolidated hospitals. Thus, it also uses retroactive data to demonstrate that some hospital mergers and acquisitions are hurting consumers, particularly in terms of higher prices. Here are some recent examples of
2166-520: The death of Bowles' father; Bryan entered the business in 1852 serving as partner in the paper's printing firm Samuel Bowles and Co. Upon Bowles' dissolution of the partnership with himself and several other minor shareholders in his paper's printing business, Bryan went on to rechristen it the Clark W. Bryan & Co., which purchased and expanded the Springfield Union from 1872 to 1882 when it
2223-412: The defendants from falsely representing that their journals engage in peer review, that their journals are included in any academic journal indexing service or any measurement of the extent to which their journals are cited. It also requires that the defendants clearly and conspicuously disclose all costs associated with submitting or publishing articles in their journals." In April 2019, the court imposed
2280-567: The funeral industry, as defined by the FTC, and a listing of their prices. By law, the GPL must be presented on request to all individuals, and no one is to be denied a written, retainable copy of the GPL. In 1996, the FTC instituted the Funeral Rule Offenders Program (FROP), under which "funeral homes make a voluntary payment to the U.S. Treasury or appropriate state fund for an amount less than what would likely be sought if
2337-729: The highest paid woman in Europe. As Hearst's deputy, Head would make decisions on his behalf about not just editing, but also buying for him St Donat's Castle , expensive art objects, and three giraffes for his zoo. Head remained head until 1939. In Latin America , a Spanish version of the magazine, titled Buenhogar , was published in the United States and Latin America by the Televisa corporation in Mexico from 1965, under license from
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2394-530: The list price of insulin. The agency is seeking to prohibit the PBMs from favoring medicines because certain pharaceuticals make them more money. In February 2024, the FTC challenged the Kroger-Albertsons merger , arguing it would drive up grocery and pharmacy prices, worsen service, and lower wages and working conditions. In March 2024, the FTC released a report that found higher profit margins as
2451-538: The magazine established the Good Housekeeping Seal. Products advertised in the magazine that bear the GH Seal are tested by GH Institute experts and are backed by a two-year limited warranty. About 5,000 products have been given the seal. In April 1912, a year after Hearst bought the magazine, Harvey W. Wiley , the first commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (1907–1912), became head of
2508-513: The most egregious of predatory publishers . In November 2017, a federal court in the Court for the District of Nevada granted a preliminary injunction that: "prohibits the defendants from making misrepresentations regarding their academic journals and conferences, including that specific persons are editors of their journals or have agreed to participate in their conferences. It also prohibits
2565-450: The opposition party. However, three members of the FTC throughout its history have been without party affiliation , with the most recent independent, Pamela Jones Harbour , serving from 2003 to 2009. (chair) Yale Law School ( JD ) Yale Law School (JD) Yale Law School (JD) University of Utah Law School (JD) University of Virginia School of Law (JD) Notes As of 2021, there have been: The FTC has three main bureaus:
2622-432: The profit of Hearst's other eight magazines combined, and probably the most profitable monthly of its time. Circulation topped 2,500,000 in 1943, 3,500,000 in the mid-1950s, 5,000,000 in 1962, and 5,500,000 per month in 1966. 1959 profits were more than $ 11 million. Good Housekeeping was one of the " Seven Sisters ", a group of women's service magazines, and is one of the three of them still published in print. In 1922,
2679-662: The promotion of consumer protection . The FTC shares jurisdiction over federal civil antitrust law enforcement with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division . The agency is headquartered in the Federal Trade Commission Building in Washington, DC . The FTC was established in 1914 with the passage of the Federal Trade Commission Act , signed in response to the 19th-century monopolistic trust crisis. Since its inception,
2736-647: The request of the FTC, namely "Money Now Funding"/"Cash4Businesses". The FTC alleged that the defendants misrepresented potential earnings, violated the National Do Not Call Register , and violated the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule in preventing a fair consumer evaluation of the business. This was one of the first definitive actions taken by any regulator against a company engaging in transaction laundering, where almost US$ 6 million were processed illicitly. In December 2018, two defendants, Nikolas Mihilli and Dynasty Merchants, LLC, settled with
2793-611: The same industry (such as suppliers and commercial buyers). The FTC shares enforcement of antitrust laws with the Department of Justice . However, while the FTC is responsible for civil enforcement of antitrust laws, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has the power to bring both civil and criminal action in antitrust matters. The Bureau of Consumer Protection's mandate is to protect consumers against unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce. With
2850-420: The written consent of the commission, Bureau attorneys enforce federal laws related to consumer affairs and rules promulgated by the FTC. Its functions include investigations, enforcement actions, and consumer and business education. Areas of principal concern for this bureau are: advertising and marketing, financial products and practices, telemarketing fraud , privacy and identity protection, etc. The bureau also
2907-467: Was Dorothy Cottington Taylor who ran the "a highly organised laboratory for testing and investigating every kind of household appliance, method, and recipe" for sixteen years. After the passage of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Rexford Tugwell sought to promote a government grading system. The Hearst Corporation opposed the policy in spirit, and began publishing
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#17328016292202964-526: Was Project Telesweep in July 1995 which cracked down on 100 business opportunity scams. In the 2021 United States Supreme Court case, AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC , the Court found unanimously that the FTC did not have power under 15 U.S.C. § 53(b) of the FTC Act, amended in 1973, to seek equitable relief in courts; it had the power to seek only injunctive relief. In 2023, Project 2025 suggested that an administration could abolish
3021-512: Was a publisher, writer, poet, and journalist who is best known today for creating the home economics magazine Good Housekeeping that he would manage from 1885 until his death in 1899, during which time he published more than a hundred of his own poems in its issues. Prior to this, Bryan was extensively involved in the reorganization of the Springfield Republican as editorial and business partner to Samuel Bowles , following
3078-402: Was against the magazine, forcing it to remove some claims and phraseology from its ad pages. The words "Tested and Approved" were dropped from the Seal. But the magazine's popularity was unaffected, steadily rising in circulation and profitability. In 1962, the wording of the Seal was changed to a guarantee of "Product or Performance", while dropping its endorsement of rhetorical promises made by
3135-451: Was purchased by the Hearst Corporation in 1911. The following is a list of those works authored by Bryan himself, it does not include the many publications which his company would publish for which he had no editorial role– Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and
3192-547: Was sold to its editor-in-chief Joseph Shipley. From 1880 until his death Bryan was also responsible for a successful trade publication, The Paper World , which was published in various iterations in Holyoke , Springfield , and finally out of the Pulitzer Building in New York City. By the time the paper had been moved to the latter in 1898, Bryan retained little more than creative input, and this sale to
3249-468: Was to sign up." Khan said in a interview that the new rule is designed so that if consumers signed up online, they must also be able to cancel on the same website in the same number of steps. The rule’s final provisions will go into effect 180 days after it is published in the Federal Register . It also targeted airlines and credit card companies over junk fees and high prices. In 2023,
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