Friday, December 4, 2009

Bloggers BEWARE




The Federal Trade Commission revised their rules for bloggers when it comes to giving endorsements or testimonial about a product or service.

Bloggers who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

The revised Guidelines state:

Bloggers and online word-of-mouth marketers are require disclosing any material connection to a company when reviewing the company’s products or services (failure to disclose any payment or receipt of free product from an advertiser or someone acting on their behalf could expose you to liability).

Click here for entire revised FTC revised guidelines.

Nice to know I do not have to worry about being expose to any liabilities because when I blog about a drug or a product I am not getting paid by Big Pharma or a Corporation.

It was just a matter of time that the FTC changed the rules and regulations because of the massive amount of people who blog and or have a social network site. IMO, it is about the FTC revised their rules and regulations on endorsements or testimonials. If a person is getting paid to speak good or bad about a product or service, it is an unfair advantage or disadvantage.

Now it time for the FTC to get to work on regulations for individuals and organizations with blogs, that are being paid by Big Pharma, the Health Care Industry and Big Business when it comes to politics in American.

Claiming "Freedom of Speech" when you are being paid to influence legislation and be divisive is getting old.

2 comments:

Diane J Standiford said...

I could not agree more!!!!

Herrad said...

Hi Debra,
Thanks for the info.
Love,
Herrad