Since FTC’s new ruling on endorsements (review sites) announced recently, there has been lots of discussion, post, blogging and opinions on the net toward how it might affect affiliate marketers. Basically it is guidelines that advise bloggers who make money from endorsements to clearly disclose their relationships with advertisers.
When the new ruling first came out, there was talk about an $11,000 fine for those caught out of compliance. But that information was detracted, and now there is no mention of a fine. However, since it is the FTC making the new guidelines, affiliate marketers should take notice.
The FTC has now published their final guidelines, for the changes that affect Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, and Celebrity Endorsements. Here is an excerpt from their site:
The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers.
The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.
Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.
The revised Guides also make it clear that celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.
Here is the main thrust of 81-page document, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, you may want to read it.
The new rule will start to effective on 1st Dec 2009. So keep your eyes open while reading blogs to see what others are doing, and see what might work best on your blog.
