Sunday, October 11, 2009
New FTC Regulations on Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently released new guidelines concerning paid sponsorships, product reviews, recommendations and blogging. You can view the document here and I suggest you read it as its is important to know what you should and should not be doing as an affiliate or merchant.
There has been a considerable amount of discussion about this new document and what effect it will have on affiliate marketing. The following is some of the more interesting and useful blog posts about the subject:
I see from the comments to these blogs there is alot of confusion about the topic. Here are my views on the subject that may or may not help.
1. This is only applicable to USA. If you live outside the USA then FTC has no jurisdiction over you. However your own country probably already has rules regarding this issue and may in fact be more restrictive than what this new guideline says anyway. I think its generally good practice to ensure you follow the rules of major developed countries such as USA, UK, Australia, Canada.
2. Dont lie or deceive. If you knowingly make false statements or deceive people then then you deserve to be punished. I have always thought it was illegal to make false statements in your advertising.
3. Disclaimers. It is probably wise to have a look at your disclaimer on your web sites and make sure they comply with the new guidelines. You may need to state that you may earn a commission from any sales resulting from links on your site. You may also need to disclose if you received advertising payments or any other benefits from sites that you mention or link to.
Please note that I am not a lawyer so none of this is legal advice. If you are concerned then seek out the services of a legal professional. I have a list of affiliate programs in the Legal industry that may help.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently released new guidelines concerning paid sponsorships, product reviews, recommendations and blogging. You can view the document here and I suggest you read it as its is important to know what you should and should not be doing as an affiliate or merchant.
There has been a considerable amount of discussion about this new document and what effect it will have on affiliate marketing. The following is some of the more interesting and useful blog posts about the subject:
- Permanent Link to Bloggers, Product Reviews, and the FTC Regulations by Shareasale
- The Sky Is Not Falling - But This Is Definitely a “Game Changer”… by Chris Rempel
- Watch out for headless chickens by Charles Kirkland
- New FTC Thing Is A Bigger Deal Than You Might Think by Frank Kern.
- New Advertising Guidelines from the FTC from Performance Marketing Alliance which is the main industry association for affiliates.
I see from the comments to these blogs there is alot of confusion about the topic. Here are my views on the subject that may or may not help.
1. This is only applicable to USA. If you live outside the USA then FTC has no jurisdiction over you. However your own country probably already has rules regarding this issue and may in fact be more restrictive than what this new guideline says anyway. I think its generally good practice to ensure you follow the rules of major developed countries such as USA, UK, Australia, Canada.
2. Dont lie or deceive. If you knowingly make false statements or deceive people then then you deserve to be punished. I have always thought it was illegal to make false statements in your advertising.
3. Disclaimers. It is probably wise to have a look at your disclaimer on your web sites and make sure they comply with the new guidelines. You may need to state that you may earn a commission from any sales resulting from links on your site. You may also need to disclose if you received advertising payments or any other benefits from sites that you mention or link to.
Please note that I am not a lawyer so none of this is legal advice. If you are concerned then seek out the services of a legal professional. I have a list of affiliate programs in the Legal industry that may help.
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