Competition Law and Consumer Protection Law: Two Wings of the Same House

It is increasingly evident that the competition and consumer protection missions of the Federal Trade Commission are more closely related than people have been accustomed to think. In the early years of the Commission’s existence, the link between deception of consumers and adverse competitive effects was taken for granted, although it was not clear which was the primary and which was the secondary concern.1 The Supreme Court ruled in FTC v. Raladam Corp. that “the trader whose methods are assailed as unfair must have present or potential rivals in trade whose business will be, or is likely to be lessened.”2 The Raladam case provided the impetus for the 1938 Wheeler-Lea Amendments,3 which added the “deceptive acts or practices” language to Section 5, in order to make clear that proof of injury to competitors4 was not an essential element of the offense.