Linked by Kroc Camen on Tue 6th Oct 2009 09:10 UTC
"US regulators will for the first time crack down on bloggers who fail to disclose fees or freebies they get from companies for reviewing products. The Federal Trade Commission, decided to update its nearly 30 year old guidelines to clarify the law for the vast world of blogging. Offenders could face eventual fines of up to $11,000 (GBP 6,900) per violation."
Thread beginning with comment 387905
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-09-14
But honestly, until the actors on television commercials pretending to like the pancake-wrapped sausages are required to stand in front of the camera at the end of te commercial and remind people that they're actors and are only eating this shit because they're being paid to, I can't understand why the FTC is picking on bloggers in particular.
Don't they already do this? Every commercial I see advertising some drug, food, etc. that has what look like testimonials in it usually flash something about them being paid actors. Though come to think of it, that might mainly be medical products where the rules are a lot stricter.
Member since:
1997-10-01
This strikes me as a very strange bit of news. I was unaware that this was a problem. My guess is that this is to combat "sock puppet" blogging, wherein a company has people on the payroll that pretend to be grassroots customers and post lots of favorable stuff online in order to generate buzz. I suppose that could make sense as a responsibility of the FTC, as a sort of false advertising.
But honestly, until the actors on television commercials pretending to like the pancake-wrapped sausages are required to stand in front of the camera at the end of te commercial and remind people that they're actors and are only eating this shit because they're being paid to, I can't understand why the FTC is picking on bloggers in particular.
I know that I have never been offered money to write a favorable review, though it is true that for many of the smaller items that we do reviews of, the manufacturer don't ask for them back. So do I need to make a disclaimer now whenever we do a book review that the publisher gave us a free book?