It took a disgruntled customer for the Sanners to even realize deceptive ads were a threat. In 2004 a regular customer told them she had received from a friend an arrangement that was not up the quality standards she expected from Perry Hall Florist. They learned that the friend had ordered from a business with a similar name, but actually located out of state.

"We take great pride and care in making sure that our arrangements are not only professionally designed, but also made with premium fresh flowers, and this arrangement didn't resemble our work," Kathy Sanner said after taking one look at it.

State Sen. Kathy Klasumeier

After a couple of months of investigating, the Sanners thought the deceptive business had left their area. But three years later, the same advertising and listing returned to their local telephone directories. When they aired their frustrations at a local business association meeting in November 2007, state Sen. Kathy Klausmeier was in attendance. She approached them that night and vowed to look into passing a bill to halt these deceptive advertising practices.

Klausmeier introduced the bill, S.B. 10, on July 11, 2008. It was approved by the state Senate in April by a vote of 37-6. And the state House passed a similar bill by unanimous vote, which O'Malley signed into law.

"I don't believe that we would be in business today if it wasn't for Senator Klausmeier getting this bill passed," Kathy Sanner said.

Does your state have a similar deceptive advertising law? If not, don't wait to find out the hard way. Send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information. Or check out SAF's online resources, which have helped florists in 24 other states (Oregon was the most recent) get legislation passed, at on this page.

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