What You Should Know About the New FTC Guidelines
In the last post I did on the new FTC rules, I went over the way in which the new rules might affect endorsements. In this post, ill go over the part which will affect bloggers more than anyone else, even though it will still have consequences for other web marketers too.
The second part of the new FTC regulations that at once affects web marketers is the new duty of declaration of material connections. This needs you to fess up to any connection youhave to the service that you are discussing, be it that you flat out got paid to try it, you did it in return for free product, or if yousimply got a cost-free trial. The big difference is if yousimply got the free trial because they were letting a bunch of people try it, or if they let you try it specifically because you would mention it in your blog. Heres the explicit example that they give about blogging in the FTC Guidelines :
- A consumer who regularly purchases a particular type of dog food decides one day to get a new, costlier brand made my the same manufacturer. She writes in her private blog the change in diet has made her dogs fur noticeably softer and shinier, and that in her opinion, the new food is certainly worth the additional money. This posting would not be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.
- Presume rather than purchase the dog food with her own cash, the purchaser gets it for free because the store routinely tracks her purchases and its computer has generated acoupon for a cost-free trial of this new brand. Again, her posting wouldn’t be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.
- Presume now the customer joins a social marketing program under which she periodically receives numerous products about which she can write reviews if she wants to do so. If she receives a free bag of the new dog treats through this program, her positive review would be considered an endorsement under the Guides.
Article Courtesy of:
Steve Pohlit
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About: Steve Pohlit is a CPA,MBA and has been the CFO of several major domestic and international companies. Steve is a business owner and an expert business consultant focused on building profits and net asset value. He is very experienced with Internet marketing and social media marketing. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.
