On The Civil Liability Of Advertising Endorsers' Fraud Endorsements And Testimonials

Use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising is common in modern commercial advertisements, which has become one of the most important advertisement type. Modern commercial advertisements are mostly of this kind. Advertising endorsers participating in such advertisements is inevitable with the modern market development, which has inestimable advantage in the market competition, and is the favour of producers and distributors. But for a long time, because of the absence of the social moral and legal regulation, the fraud endorsement behavior has increasingly become an important social problem.Endorsement behavior is a kind of commercial use of personality, using one's own image, the social influence and credibility for commercial gain. Fraud endorsements are the improper use of one's own social influence and credibility, which cause damage to consumers'rights and interests. Fraud endorsements and testimonials in advertising is such kind of indirect infringement behavior to consumers' rights and interests, which associates with producers'production behavior , distributors'sales behavior and advertising publishing behavior,. But considering with the legal status and the causal link between consumers'damages and the fraud endorsement, the fraud endorsement is a cause of the damage, which has an force to let the damage occur, thus the advertising endorsers shall bear the responsibility to compensate.To consider the responsibility category, advertising endorsers' responsibility of fraud endorsements is one kind of general tort liability, which has the common components of the tort liability, while still shows its own characteristics. Due to the tort behavior of fraud endorsements'mechanism to come into effect, which relies on consumer-using of the trust to advertising endorsers to attract consumers to purchase certain goods or services to satisfy the realization of the trust -to-trade relation and this makes the causal link hard to discover . But as for consumers'damage resulting from fraud endorsements behavior has evidence to see, the causal link between consumers'damage and fraud endorsements behavior is certain.Although the responsibility of advertising endorsers' fraud endorsements associates with the producer's responsibility and advertising responsibility, to a certain extent, is attached to the producer responsibility, but advertising endorsers' fraud endorsements exists in commercial advertisements, so it should belong to the category of advertising tort, not belong to the category of product infringement, although on which the damage of consumers based. For its behavior subject, advertising endorsers'responsibility distincts from advertising tort liability; for its foundation, the responsibility distinguishes from product liability. The liability of advertising endorsers'fraud endorsements has its independence status, and should be set as a kind of independent responsibility, not concluded in the product liability or the liability of advertising.The liability of advertising endorsers'fraud endorsements for their fault to infringe the rights and interests of consumers and shall be liable for the fault liability. Only due to the combination of advertising endorsers'fraud endorsement behavior, producers'production behavior and distributors'sales behavior would cause the damage results. Just because of the subjective association and objective association of the fraud endorsement behavior, producers'behavior and distributors'behavior in tort form, the advertising endorsers, the producers and the distributors shall bear joint liability.The bear of advertising endorsers'responsibility for fraud endorsement behavior is the inevitable result from the negative evaluation of the behavior based on law, but not as long as there is a fraud endorsement behavior, it would cause advertising endorsers'responsibility. In the case of satisfying certain conditions, advertising endorsers'responsibility can be reduced or remitted according to law and by proposing defense to the claim for damages of consumer.