FTC Publishes Guide on Ad Testimonials/Endorsements

Posted By elissa on Oct 9, 2009 | 1 comment

Evidently it’s “truth or consequences”…

Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.

…the post of a blogger 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.

LOL – if the FTC follows through, maybe this will put a damper on some of the more outrageous and deceptive ad practices.  We’ll see…