The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued its “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The guideline, last updated in 1980, covers regulations on ‘what celebrity endorsers can say and how advertisers can use research claims.’ The same guideline is now being applied to comments on or reviews of products such as gadgets or fashion, or even services, in such formats as online blogs, Facebook entries, and Twitter updates.
Being construed as commercial endorsements or thinly-veiled marketing and advertising strategy, the FTC wants to police product and book reviews by requiring writers and bloggers ‘to disclose online if they have what the FTC vaguely defines as “material connections” with the sellers of a product or service. This could include getting free samples on which they base comments or reviews.’
Some bloggers have objected to the government stipulation, arguing that ‘their activities are squarely in the realm of speech, not commerce.’ According to technology blogger Dan Gillmor, the guidelines are “an attack on markets and free speech, based on a 20th Century notion of media and advertising that simply doesn’t map to the new era. The advertising of the past was a one-to-many system. Call it broadcasting. The Internet is a many-to-many system. Call it conversation. They are not the same.”
The reaction to the regulations has so far been overwhelming, resulting in the FTC stepping back very recently. According to the agency, it ‘planned to bring actions against companies as advertisers, not against bloggers or individuals.’
Fact remains, though, that there is no practical and absolutely doable way for any government to police bloggers.
Posted by GSerrano on October 25, 2009 in Business, Internet and New Media · 0 Comment
