The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has decided to hate on the free love that manufactures/retailers give to bloggers by providing free products for review. Bloggers have, for several years, received free products and the FTC has a problem with that. They believe that this relationship leads to false claims and creates a conflict of interest. The FTC is changing its guidelines concerning the “Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Sorry but we will never be objective in our decisions because we can only see the world from our own perspective. False claims have been a part of advertising for years now with phrases like “Now faster than ever.” What does that mean? How do they measure faster? The truth is they are targeting bloggers.

False claims as a result of conflicts of interest have existed since the start of advertising. Should we ban manufactures from comparing their products with their competitors’? Every day I see commercials that compare pain relievers, and guess who is doing the comparison… the manufactures. I have never seen any of the manufactures do a comparison that finds the competitor’s product to be a better choice. Hmm… imagine that; never saw that coming did you?

Below are a few examples in their document:

Sec. 255.4 Example 7: This example describes a situation where a student with a reputation as a video game expert who maintains a blog receives a free copy of a video game system from a manufacturer asking him to write a review. The Guides explain that if the gamer wrote a review, readers of the blog would likely not be aware that he had received the game system for free in exchange for his review. In such a situation, the Guides advise that the blogger should clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the video game system for free.

Sec. 255.4 Example 8: This example describes an online message board designated for a specified topic, and elaborates on a scenario where an employee of a manufacturer of the leading product of the specified topic promotes the product on the online message board without revealing her identity. The Guides provide that the poster should clearly and conspicuously disclose her relationship with the manufacturers to members and readers of the message board.

- FTC (http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/endorsementguides2/539124-00005.pdf)

The new guidelines are expected to be approved late this summer, and they will allow the FTC to go after both the companies that compensate the bloggers and the bloggers themselves.

Don’t worry bloggers, the IAB has your back on this one. The IAB is the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and they wrote a letter to the FTC. The IAB includes AOL, CNET Networks, ESPN.com, Forbes.com, Google, MSN, New York Times Digital, Yahoo!, and many others.

Here is what the IAB has to say:

“Due to the evolving nature of the marketing industry in response to developing technologies, and the need for further inquiry on this complex topic, we believe that there has not been sufficient discussion to revise the Guides explicitly to address new media at this time. We therefore urge the Commission to refrain from adopting the proposed examples pertaining to new media.”

The Commission has a long history of deferring to self-regulation when industry has proven that it is capable of protecting consumers. In this case, strong and effective self-regulatory programs already exist. For instance, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association has developed the Ethical Blogger Contact Guidelines, which inform marketers that when they send bloggers products for review, they are “not obligated to comment on them” and “can return the products at their own discretion.” These guidelines also advise marketers to proactively ask bloggers to disclose the sources of products if they write about products sent to them by marketers.

- FTC (http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/endorsementguides2/539124-00005.pdf)

The simple solution I see here is to require bloggers to disclose that they received the product for free from the manufacturer at the begginning of their review. The rules that they are suggesting are good general guidelines. I still don’t like the idea of bloggers getting legally attacked when they fail to explain that they’ve been compensated for their work. We all know they’ve been compensated… it’s common sense.