FTC-Advertisers brace for online viral marketing curbs

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BeerHat

BeerHat

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Feb 18, 2007
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Advertisers in the US are bracing themselves for regulatory changes that they fear will curtail their efforts to tap into the fast-growing online social media phenomenon.
Revised guidelines on endorsements and testimonials by the Federal Trade Commission, now under review and expected to be adopted, would hold companies liable for untruthful statements made by bloggers and users of social networking sites who receive samples of their products.





read more-fucking great
 


This type of stuff is bad (tm).

This is why advertisers, networks, and the industry as a whole need to do a better job of monitoring their traffic sources and self-policing. Otherwise the FTC et al. steps in and mandates new rules that makes affiliate marketing less viable of a customer acquisition channel.

Of course, as usual, larger brand advertisers that have more to lose than their offshore merchant account and the 700 pesos in their bank account are the ones that will be affected by this.

The guys already running afoul of the FTC will continue not to care.
 
Wow, didn't think they would crack down on flogs that hard. Guess a simple disclaimer at the bottom of your flog won't be enough.
 
They're basically making the line between sales puffery and outright lying that bit thicker.

I can understand why they're doing it, but I think it's unnecessary, as the people that already are problematic will continue not to care, as TakingthePlunge said. Those are the guys that run the anonymously registered bullshit blogs.
The only people it's going to really affect are the poor schmucks who fall for bullshit placebo drugs (get some Fukitol!) and then assume that the disappearance of symptoms are related to said drug usage without being able to point to any empirical studies.
 
Where can the current FTC Ruling be found

FTC laws are written in a way that no normal humans can possibly comprehend them. Does anybody know a place that explains the rules in detail but without all the legislative jargon?

Thx
M
 
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