: The campaign was so effective it took on a "life of its own" in pop culture, spawning thousands of Facebook fans and countless YouTube parodies. 2. The Controversy: "Free" with Strings Attached
: Launched in 2007 by Experian Consumer Direct, the campaign featured a fictional band of "slackers" singing about life’s misfortunes caused by bad credit (e.g., working at a Renaissance fair or driving a "subcompact"). freecredit creditreport.com
: Because of these misleading ads, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 introduced strict new rules. Any company advertising a "free credit report" on TV/radio must now explicitly state: "This is not the free credit report provided for by Federal law" . : The campaign was so effective it took
