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New Guide to FTC Disclosure Requirements for Product Endorsements

Citizen Media Law Project: “As part of our legal guide series on Risks Associated with Publication, today CMLP published a guide to Publishing Product or Service Endorsements. The new legal guide section takes on the Federal Trade Commission‘s controversial “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” (the ‘Guidelines’) that took effect on December 1, 2009. The FTC Guidelines call for bloggers, Tweeters, Facebook users, and other online publishers to disclose ‘material connections’ they have with companies whose products or services they endorse. The Guidelines also say that bloggers may be held liable for making misleading or unsubstantiated claims about a product or service.”

New FTC Ad Rule Creates “Target Rich Environment”

NutriSupLaw: “David Vladeck, Director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection said that the FTC’s new Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising creates a “target rich enviornment” in which they intend to pursue violators using all the resources at their disposal. And when the 1000+ enforcement personnel at the FTC run out, FTC plans to call on the state attorneys’ general. When the AG’s are too busy, Vladeck says that they will do as the FDA does and publish warning letters on the internet in order to ‘bully companies into compliance.'”

Despite the backpeddling FTC has done in the media recently, Vladeck made it clear that he will enforce Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the endorsement guides. It was as if Vladeck was drawing imaginary targets on foreheads around the room…

Food Police Target Kellogg’s Cocoa Krispies Cereal

USA Today: “Kellogg, the nation’s largest cereal maker, is being called to task by critics who object to the swine flu-conscious claim now bannered in bold lettering on the front of Cocoa Krispies cereal boxes: ‘Now helps support your child’s IMMUNITY.'”

The Future of the Internet

Mises Economics Blog: “There’s concern throughout the Internet after the Federal Trade Commission announced today

[October 5, 2009] that it has the power to regulate blogs, specifically blogs that endorse commercial products. The unelected FTC – composed entirely of Bush appointees – now mandates that “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” This is merely a first step towards regulating the content of blogs themselves, as anyone who offers a personal testimonial about any product will be liable, under the Federal Trade Commission Act, should the FTC disagree with your personal experiences.

If you’re wondering just how big a mess the FTC can make, consider a decision published just last week by D. Michael Chappell, the FTC’s chief administrative law judge. Judge Chappell caught FTC prosecutors in a blatant attempt to lie their way out of a bad situation arising from yet another misguided attempt to micromanage the World Wide Web. It’s a case that demonstrates the FTC’s unique combination of stupidity and narcissism.

FTC Reassures Bloggers – Big Brother Isn’t Watching

The Blog of LegalTimes: “Bloggers of the world, relax – the Federal Trade Commission is not out to get you. That was the message from Mary Engle, associate director for advertising practices at the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. In a conference call for reporters today, Engle aimed to set the record straight after a flurry of news stories (not to mention blogs and tweets) about the FTC’s new advertising guidelines that were, as she put it, ‘all wrong. We are not going to be patrolling the blogosphere,’ she said. ‘We are not planning on investigating individual bloggers.'”