FTC Values Sponsored Conversations at $11,000 Apiece

FTC Values Sponsored Conversations at $11,000 Apiece.

Brian Solis TechCrunch.com
Monday, October 5, 2009; 10:28 AM

Today, the Federal Trade Commission made good on its threat promise to change the way it regulates endorsements from bloggers by releasing its final revisions to the guidance it gives advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act. Last May, we reviewed the proposed FTC guidelines that will now change the disclosure rules around paid endorsements and testimonials, and thus how brands use online endorsements in their marketing, advertising, and communications programs.

This amendment marks the first time in 27 years since The Guides were last updated in 1980.

In the 1980 version of the Guides, advertisers were allowed to get away with promoting unusually positive or outlier experiences in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as ?results not typical.? Long overdue, the revised Guides no longer allow this form of safe harbor.

But for anybody contributing to the new media landscape, these new rules contain a dire warning that everyone from bloggers to "social media experts" (everyone raise your hands) must heed.

While The Guides mostly define the rules of engagement for advertising, it now contains clear language and consequences associated with the use of paid testimonials in blogs and celebrity endorsements...