FTC: Bloggers Must Disclose Payments for Endorsements

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 5, 2009 - 8:30am.

Washington - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday announced new guidelines governing testimonials and endorsements published by bloggers who are paid for their coverage. "Bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service," the FTC said.

Celebrity endorsers may also now be held liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement, and must disclose relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads -- such as on talk shows or in social media.

If a company refers to research in an ad that the company itself paid to sponsor, the ad must now disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization.

The guidelines also state that ads may no longer display unnatural performance of a product with a disclaimer like "results not typical," and must now "clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect."

Related Links:
http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

Published in DMW Daily, October 5, 2009

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Comments

FTC Clarification

Submitted by JohnMcD (not verified) on October 6, 2009 - 6:40am.

I hope the FTC provides some further clarification on this. The press release makes it seem like any "material relationship" or financial arrangement automatically constitutes a paid endorsement, but then they say each case has to be weighed on its own merit. This could be quite a chilling effect on internet advertising.