🎯 CFPB Shut Down & Superbowl Blunders | Marketing's Most Wanted

Hi Marketing Wranglers,

Although it may feel like a year (or two), it’s only been three weeks since Donald Trump started his second term.

In just a few weeks, regulatory bodies have seen major shakeups, leaving even non-regulated industries questioning their marketing strategies (like, can we even say D&I anymore?).

🚨 In This Week’s Issue

🤖 Breaking News: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Shuts Down
🎥 Hers & Hims Superbowl Blunder: FDA Flag on the Play to Market Non-FDA Regulated Substances to American Consumers
📰 Marketing Compliance News: New SEC chair, Capital One Lawsuit

🤖 Breaking News: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Shuts Down

What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)?

Kicked off in 2011 in the aftermath of the housing crisis that set off the Great Recession, the CFPB has snagged $21B back for consumers, slashed overdraft fees, revamped student loans and mortgages, and is the sole regulator for nonbank lenders (ahem, fintech). Their mandate is broad, covering mortgages, credit cards, student loans, credit reporting, and other financial products.

What’s happening?

Friday: President Trump appointed Russell Vought (the Office of Management and Budget leader) as the agency’s acting director. He replaced Rohit Chopra who was supposed to serve a 5 year term. Shortly after, Elon Musk posted: “CFPB RIP” on X. Elon was also granted access to the consumer bureau’s headquarters and computers.

Saturday: Vought ordered the bureau’s 1,700 employees to “cease all supervision and examination activity”, including their most recent lawsuit against Capital One for misleading savings account marketing.

Sunday: Vought shut down the CFPB headquarters for at least a week—locking employees' laptops inside. The bureau’s union, the National Treasury Employees Union, hit back with two lawsuits, arguing that granting Musk’s team access to employee records violated the Privacy Act and that the stop-work order overstepped Congress’s authority. Employees also joined a protest outside headquarters.

What’s next?

• The agency could be abolished. However, previous attempts during the first Trump administration failed. This would require congressional approval, although there is uncertainty given the recent dismantling of USAID.

• The agency could have its funding cut to $0. On Jan 30, Congressman Keith Self introduced a bill to reduce the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) statutory funding cap to $0, effectively eliminating the agency by cutting off its financial resources. This would require a majority vote in the Senate.

• Recently adopted rules may never be enforced. The agency recently introduced rules to remove medical debt from credit reports and cap credit card late fees at $8 per month, cap overdraft fees at $5 a month, but lawsuits have stalled their implementation. Now we may not see these protections in place.

What does this mean for compliance?

It’s still early days. However, in a world without CFPB, we might see:

• Other Federal Agencies Step Up — We may see an increase in regulatory actions by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Security Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. However, that still leaves a lot of nonbank lenders unregulated.

• State Regulators Get More Powerful: State-level regulators oversee mortgages and money-transmitter licenses, acting as a backstop. We could see states stepping up to play a bigger role in protecting their residents.

What should I do?

• Stay the Path: With recent rulings and sanctions likely headed for court battles, financial services marketers and compliance are left in limbo. What’s the best move? Follow the guidelines we’ve been given until we know more. (Warrant helps with this!)

• Customer trust wins. Brands that prioritize honesty—avoiding misleading tactics, hidden fees, and subpar products—will emerge stronger and ahead of the competition. Remember, Wells Fargo still hasn’t recovered… think what that could mean for your brand.

🎥 Hers & Hims Superbowl Blunder

What was the ad?

Watch the ad here.

Picture this: A scale, junk food images, and a narrator declaring, “Something’s broken, and it’s not our bodies.” Over Childish Gambino's This is America, Hims & Hers pitches its solution to the nation’s obesity crisis: weight-loss drugs.

But here's the catch—these drugs are compounded, meaning they haven’t undergone the full FDA approval process designed to safeguard against risks to consumers — a point the ad glosses over.

Where did they go wrong?

Hims & Hers made some classic marketing compliance mistakes:

• Misleading marketing: Not mentioning the drugs are compounded or the risks associated (except in tiny font at the end of the video).

• Restricted Imagery: Scales, junk food and other triggering imagery are restricted imagery to market pharmaceutical products.

• “Anti-Status Quo":” Presenting themselves as an “alternative” to traditional health institutions is misleading.

• Missed Disclaimers: No mention of risks, side effects, or safety warnings that would typically be required in a pharmaceutical ad.

What’s happening?

Thursday: The Partnership for Safe Medicines, a coalition of nonprofit organizations (some linked to the drug industry), sent a letter to the FDA on Thursday, labeling the ad as "dangerous." They criticized the ad for only briefly mentioning, in small font, that the medications are compounded. The group urged Fox Corporation to pull the ad entirely before the game — they didn’t.

Friday: On Friday, Senators Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas, sent a letter to the acting head of the Food and Drug Administration saying the ad “risks misleading patients.”

Sunday: The backlash to the ad during the game was instant and brutal for being “anti-America” and being “part of the system.” Despite the backlash, the company is defending the advertisement, telling ADWEEK: “It's clear that the ad has struck a chord, and people are paying attention. We've called out the system, and now the system is asking that our ad get taken down.”

Monday: Novo Nordisk (maker of Ozempic and Wegovy) placed a print ad in Monday morning papers to combat the Super Bowl ad.

What’s next?

We'll keep you posted as this story unfolds.

There’s a chance Hims & Hers could face fines or sanctions, and the FDA may issue new guidelines for companies marketing compounded drugs.

Currently, these drugs are only allowed to be sold under specific circumstances, such as during shortages—a situation that's already starting to improve for Ozempic.

If regulatory pressure increases, we might see tighter enforcement and stricter rules for non-pharma companies to prevent similar ads from running in the future.

📰 Marketing Compliance News

New SEC Chair’s Agenda

With pending rules that may affect digital assets, ESG disclosures, service provider oversight, trading, and other areas, how will SEC Chairman nominee Paul Atkins approach leftovers of the prior administration’s agenda?

Read more on Goodwin Law.

Capital One Sued by CFPB

Although this Jan 14 lawsuit might not end up happening, it’s always good to look at what went wrong.

• Misleading comparison marketing: Capital One marketed that their 360 Savings accounts had “one of the nation’s highest interest rates,” but froze its rate at a low level for years.

• Similar product names: The bank created “360 Performance Savings” which had a higher interest but a very similar name.

• Deceptive marketing practices: Capital One allegedly marketed the products similarly to obscure their distinction and forbade employees “from proactively telling” those with 360 Savings accounts about 360 Performance Savings.

Read more on AP News.

💬 Your Input Matters

I want to make this newsletter as valuable as possible for you. What regulatory trends are you concerned about? Hit reply and let me know—I read every response!

Thanks for being part of this incredible journey. Let’s keep consumers protected in 2025.

Austin Carroll, CEO
Warrant

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