Reflections on the Federal Trade Commission

Abstract

Dame (e-mail: Murphy.72@nd.edu). In the fall of 1979, I applied to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business Sears Fellowship program that placed academics in federal agencies for one year. In the early spring of 1980, I was accepted into the program and interviewed at three agencies: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Agriculture. The best fit for me was in the new Office of Management Planning (OMP) at the FTC. (Most of the earlier marketing academics had worked in the Division of Advertising Practices at the FTC, and I interviewed with them as well.) Steve Kelman, on leave from the Kennedy School at Harvard University, was the director. He and I hit it off in the interview process, and subsequently, I received a letter informing me that the OMP position was mine. In a touch of irony, the FTC letter arrived immediately after I received word of my promotion to Associate Professor at Marquette University. I remarked that I was promoted and got a new job in the same week. As others have indicated in their personal recollections about the FTC, 1979–1980 was a tumultuous year for the FTC. The proposed “Kid Vid” rule and the funeral home rule created much controversy surrounding the agency, and in May, Congress actually shut the FTC down for a day as a punishment for what some considered overreaching its powers. Steve Kelman was anxious for me to join as soon as possible, so I arrived in the middle of May 1980, right after the shutdown occurred. I was not quite sure what I was getting myself into. In thinking about how to organize this essay to keep it from becoming a stream of consciousness, I will use one A and 4 Ps (appropriate for any marketing professor) to recount not only my experience while at the agency but also several activities related to the FTC with which I have been involved since that time. The “A” stands for anniversaries, and the “P”s are people, planning, publications, and policy.