Hiya friends…this is a not.so.fun post but I wanted to do it anyways just to give you a little background on a slight change you’ll see here ’round priorfatgirl.com. It’s the fine print behind the blog…(ha, see, I made it fine print?! I’m so genius!)
The FTC has put in some new guidelines on how bloggers advertise about products. I’m yey or ney. I just like to be on the right side of the fence.
The FTC advise:
- Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser.
- When the advertisement represents that the endorser uses the endorsed product, the endorser must have been a bona fide user of it at the time the endorsement was given.
- Advertisers are subject to liability for false or unsubstantiated statements made through endorsements, or for failing to disclose material connections between themselves and their endorsers
- Endorsers also may be liable for statements made in the course of their endorsements.
And…in case you are confused and need an example, here is an the FTC gave:
“A college student who has earned a reputation as a video game expert maintains a personal weblog or “blog” where he posts entries about his gaming experiences. Readers of his blog frequently seek his opinions about video game hardware and software. As it has done in the past, the manufacturer of a newly released video game system sends the student a free copy of the system and asks him to write about it on his blog. He tests the new gaming system and writes a favorable review. Because his review is disseminated via a form of consumer-generated media in which his relationship to the advertiser is not inherently obvious, readers are unlikely to know that he has received the video game system free of charge in exchange for his review of the product, and given the value of the video game system, this fact likely would materially affect the credibility they attach to his endorsement. Accordingly, the blogger should clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the gaming system free of charge. The manufacturer should advise him at the time it provides the gaming system that this connection should be disclosed, and it should have procedures in place to try to monitor his postings for compliance.”
Now…in all my previous posts, I’ve made honest attempts to distinguish if I received something for free or if I bought something on my own. Which is good, but since I wanna play by the rules, I will do it a little more formally.
And….done.
