October 6, 2009
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Yesterday; Oct 5, 2009, the Federal Trade Commision set up new guidelines for bloggers (not excluding sites like Twitter/Facebook) concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in terms of advertising. Basically, if you are using your blog to review a particular product, the FTC wants to know if you were provided with some payola from that product's company. You don't disclose that information, then you pay fines up to $11,000.
Now, I can understand the FTC acting like the police checking to see if influential websites are putting up positive reviews for a product just because they were given some freebies to do so. Websites like imdb.com are known to have "fake" reviewers who talk positives about a movie, just to drive more audiences to go see it. There was also a report awhile back about certain game journalists that were given monetary incentives to post positive reviews of particular games. So the FTC is just thinking about the consumers right?
The question now lies at how far this will go as a "Big Brother" situation. Are they really only targeting well known review sites, or will they also target regular joes like us? The FTC claims they're not. They say that all you have to do is claim to purchase the product with your own money and they will leave you alone, but will they really take that comment at face value no questions ask? The fact that a written 140 characters product review on Twitter can be regulated by this new guideline is some pause for concern as it is. Is receiving a free t-shirt for watching a movie considered a bribe, if you post in a blog recommending the movie? These are concerns the FTC really needs to alleviate.
I'm waiting for the moment the FTC fines somebody $11,000 on Facebook, because their status update reads "go buy the latest album by Linkin Park, it's really good."
- links below to check out -
More transparency coming to blog reviews under new FTC rules (link)
FTC to bloggers: Fess up or pay up (link)
Yes, new FTC guidelines extend to Facebook fan pages (link)
Understanding the FTC's New Blog Guidelines - AOTS "the Loop" (video)
Comments (2)
Is this really a problem? They are just saying you need to let your readers know if you received something from a company or sponsor when you give a review. It's as simple as "I got my doodad for free from lamecompany. It's awesome!" Simple as that. I think I'd actually have a blanket disclaimer of "I get free stuff from all companies reviewed. My reviews are for entertainment use only". Yes it's a little annoying to have to think about this on an everyday post but imagine how annoying it is for the person that actually plunked $$$ down for something stupid.
Considering how much stuff flies under the Federal radar (don't believe me, think about how long dangerous imports have come in before the FDA noticed in the pet food poisoning scare), I'd be surprised that most offenders would even be noticed unless you really piss someone off.
@darren_macintyre - I didn't say that I have a problem with the reasoning behind this new FTC guideline, I'm just bringing up the fact that this *could* get out of hand if they wanted it to.
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