Final answer:
True, it is necessary to specify whether the advertised years of experience in the private investigative industry refer to a single investigator or a collective total, as mandated by FTC guidelines to ensure all factual claims in advertising are true.
Step-by-step explanation:
When advertising years of experience in the private investigative industry, it is important to specify whether it is a total number for one investigator or a combined total of all investigators on the team. This is in accordance with general advertising principles where factual claims must be truthful and verifiable. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) routinely monitors such claims and does not permit untrue "facts" to be advertised. Exaggerated or ambiguous language is tolerated as long as it doesn't constitute false information. Advertisements must always be approached with the philosophy of caveat emptor, meaning "let the buyer beware."