The 1931 Supreme Court ruling gutted FTC power over deceptive advertising

Evidence

Unfortunately, the commission’s actual power over deceptive advertising, legally ambiguous at best, was definitively quashed by a skeptical Supreme Court in 1931, just as Lucky’s campaign was firing on all cylinders. Consequently, Hill and Lasker were back to their old tricks, if somewhat more cautious, now peddling their claim more by implication than outright assertion. A new version of the ad from later in the 1930s shows a slender and beautiful woman on the edge of a diving board, surrounded by a plumper silhouette. “IS THIS YOU FIVE YEARS FROM NOW?” it asks. “When tempted to over-indulge, Reach for a Lucky instead.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 276