Bloggers and advertisers are warned by FTC guidelines on new Product approval
On 1 December 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued new guidelines on endorsements and testimonials. Although the guidelines–is just “guidelines”–no force of law, they offer insight on how the FTC will interpret the law. The guidelines cover endorsements by bloggers, consumers, experts and organisations. Let’s see what the guidelines say about blogging.
First, here are the General guidelines. Official statements consist of an “advertising message … that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser…” Entries must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences with the endorser. They cannot be quoted out of context or reworded in a way that the original approval “distorted”. If an ad that uses an endorser of the product or service, the endorser must be a “bona fide” user has been at the time of the adoption and ad can only be performed during the period of the endorser “bonafide” use. Both advertisers and endorsers can be made for their statements.
Here is what the FTC has to say about bloggers. Product endorsements on the basis of a blogger’s own experience with a product is not an approval in accordance with the guidelines; However, if a blogger receives payment, he or she must reveal.
As a blogger a product of a ad service retrieved endorses and unsolicited statements about its effectiveness, the advertiser and the blogger be liable for making misleading and unsubstantiated claims. In addition, the blogger can be held liable if the blogger does not disclose that he or she is compensated. The guidelines explicitly obliged on the advertiser a bloggers to check compliance.
The FTC requires bloggers who receive free products from manufacturers to reveal their connection with the manufacturer. As in the previous example required the FTC to the manufacturer to ensure that bloggers in accordance with the guidelines.
Bloggers and advertisers must familiarize themselves with the new guidelines and there are questions about their interpretation should be, we are always available for consultation.
Adam g. Garson is an attorney with the Media, Pennsylvania office of Lipton, Weinberger Husick &. LWH is an intellectual property, technology, litigation and business law firm based in Philadelphia since the early 1990 ‘s. LWH provides its customers with a full range of legal services in connection with patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, Internet law, domain name disputes, business law, and litigation.
Adam g. Garson, Esquire LIPTON, WEINBERGER HUSICK & agarson @ lwh-law www.lwh-law.comhttp://www.garson-law.com201 North comhttp://. Jackson Street Media, PA 19063 voice + 1 610. 565. about 50 Fax + 1 610. 565.7631