René Bissonnette
René Bissonnette is a partner in Gowling WLG’s Toronto office with distinctive expertise in matters at the interface of advertising, marketing and entertainment law. René is ranked in Chambers 2022 for Advertising & Marketing. He provides practical advice and cost-effective risk management solutions.
As part of his practice, René regularly advises clients on:
- Executing promotional campaigns
- Negotiating spokesperson, sponsorship, talent and co-promotion agreements
- Dealing with talent union (e.g. ACTRA) matters
- Responding to Ad Standards complaints
- Creating influencer marketing and native advertising content
- Producing and exploiting film, music and other creative properties
- Advising clients on CASL and privacy matters
- Reviewing consumer goods packaging and labelling
- Developing website terms of use and social media policies
- Structuring online consumer transactions and rewards programs
Fluent in English and French, René is a member of the Ad Standards Council, the co-editor of the Food, NHP & Cosmetic newsletter and a lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School, Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone and Schulich’s School of Business.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
1 Contributions by René Bissonnette
PRACTICE NOTES
Canada’s influencer marketing legal framework: material connection disclosures, enforcement and sanctions, and key terms for brand–influencer agreements
This Practice Note is chiefly intended for brands seeking to collaborate with social media influencers (or other talent) on targeted social marketing campaigns and advertising promotions in Canada...
Applicable regulations, codes and guidelines
In Canada, the relationship between influencers and brands is largely governed by the federal Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-3, together with relevant regulatory and industry guidance. The Act broadly prohibits representations that are false or misleading in a material respect. These misleading advertising provisions apply to influencer activity in the same way as any other marketing, and extend to statements made by influencers to the public.
Under the Competition Act, the federal Competition Bureau oversees influencer marketing, including deciding what constitutes a ‘material connection’ between an influencer and a brand and the related disclosure obligations, which are discussed in detail below. The Competition Bureau may seek administrative remedies for misleading advertising as a civil offence, or pursue prosecution where misrepresentations are made knowingly or recklessly as a criminal offence. The criminal misleading advertising offence appears in subsection 52(1) of the Competition Act, and the civil misleading advertising prohibition is set out in subsection 74.01(1)(a) of the Competition Act...
TMT
If you expected to see yourself on this page, click here.
